“We had to be careful because you don’t engage and energise and empower people with bad news, but at the same time, you have to make people aware of the realities.”

Listen for insights you can apply in your sustainability work including:

• Making sustainability something people care about by connecting to issues important to them
• How making big bold moves can be more effective than starting with the easy stuff
• How to look after yourself and keep going when things are tough

Highlights from the conversation

Here are five insights that Daniella shared on making sustainability something people care about, where I’d like to go a little deeper and encourage you to think about how you could apply these in your work:

Connecting sustainability and health

I want to start with the connections between sustainability and health. Having them both in the same role is really interesting given the positive correlation between eating healthier and climate impact. 

Often the sustainable choice is seen as more expensive and/or inconvenient, and sustainability is sometimes seen as doing the right thing by denying people what they want.

But here, sustainability is connected to something that many people want – to eat more healthily.

I really like the way this idea has been extended right through to programmes that help customers make better choices and reward them with discounts on fresh food when they buy healthier products.

Are there similar correlations between climate or other aspects of sustainability, and the choices your customers make? How could you leverage this to make sustainability something people care about? How could you make it easier and more attractive for your customers to make the sustainable choice?

Big bold moves

Daniella talked about the impact of big bold moves, like banning single use plastics long before it became a hot topic.

What could be the equivalent in your organisation? Something that’s do-able in principle, but seriously challenging, and that makes a genuine environmental and or social impact?

Working with others

Project Ocean succeeded because it made a complex issue – plastic pollution – emotive and understandable. And equally crucial, even though it didn’t shy away from pretty overwhelming statistics, staff were able to get involved and take real action.

I also think it’s really notable that these weren’t a short list of actions developed by the sustainability team – staff were genuinely involved, were able to work together to come up with creative solutions and then put them into practice. 

How can you work with others to find the stories that can make the big issues you’re wrestling with, less technical and more emotive? How can you involve colleagues in finding ways forward?

Powerful allies

Project Ocean was instigated by the Chairman and supported by the Chief Executive. This really highlights that if you want to make big bold moves, you will need powerful allies across the organisation.

Who are your allies, people who will support you to move the sustainability agenda forward? If you don’t have many allies yet, what’s your plan for finding them and building your connection with them? Have you explored how to build support for sustainability among directors and senior managers?

Looking after yourself

Moving on from big bold moves, let’s finish with looking after yourself and keeping going when things are tough. Daniella explained how important spending time in nature is for her and also the importance of her network of peers.

Both of these really resonate with us here at Realise Earth, they’re really important to us too. 

If you’re not already spending time in nature, I really encourage you to do so on a daily basis if you can. It does’t have to be especially wild, what’s important is being in green spaces and especially paying attention to nature and the changing seasons. 

We also know from our own experience how important it is to have a group of peers you meet with regularly to talk about the stuff that matters, and to have someone to listen to you. If you don’t already have group like this, talk to other people in similar positions to yourself and discuss the idea of meeting together regularly.

What’s your take?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about suggestions and questions – do they hit the spot? Have I missed something? Are you doing any or all of these already – and do you have experiences you’d like to share with other listeners?

Let me know your take – DM me on LinkedIn!