Oh, hello sustainability...

“Not that, it’s got palm oil in it.” 

“Get that one, it’s got less packaging.” 

“Have you got the cloth bags?”

“How much is an electric cargo bike?”

“I’ve found some trail shoes on Vinted”

These are recent utterings that wouldn’t have come out of my mouth just a few short years ago. 

So what’s changed?

If I’m totally honest, I can’t entirely put my finger on it. Sustainability has crept gradually into my consciousness and household. It's happened over a period of months and years. The only thing I know for sure is that it has settled in for the duration.

Pushing myself to think back, I would probably say it’s always been there. From a tender age, a love of sport and the outdoors was instilled in me by my parents from their own passion for hiking and rambling around the English countryside and beyond. As a kid, I was taken with my brother, on camping trips, riverboat holidays and to the beach. Weekends at home generally always included a walk or family bike ride.

In my teenage years, I enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. I camped, hiked volunteered and tried new things. I progressed through bronze, silver and gold, earning my trip to the palace to meet the Duke. At gold level, I was lucky to be accepted on an expedition to Zimbabwe (a trip I financed in part through weekend shifts at our local supermarket).

A holiday to Cornwall with my parents in 2000 (and a week of surf lessons) led me to join the Southampton Uni surf club where I got to know the surf beaches and waters in South West England. I even participated (albeit briefly - just 2 rounds) in the student nationals.

My ERASMUS year in Lyon took me close enough to the French Alps where I sneaked a few cheeky day trips to the ski slopes of nearby resorts. I had learned to snowboard a couple of years earlier, on visits to see my Dad, who was on secondment in Geneva.

In 2004, post-university, I spent the best part of a year in the outdoors, travelling the world with my now husband. We explored no less than 13 countries in Central & South America, NZ, Australia and South East Asia. We travelled predominantly overland, only flying between continents. I made more connections with nature as we snorkelled, swam, hiked, surfed, climbed, skydived, cycled, kayaked and zip-lined our way across waves, beaches, coral reefs, volcanos, cloud forests, deserts and mountains.

After 5 years in Leeds working in ‘proper jobs’ for Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the outdoors called again. This time it was the mountains again, and in 2009 we jumped ship to run our own ski chalet business in the French Alps. We have been here ever since, in the heart of the Tarentaise valley in the Savoie region. Our winters centre around skiing and snowboarding. We spend our summers road-biking, hiking, mountain-biking, paddle-boarding, lake swimming and digging our veg garden.

Living in the mountains has definitely heightened my awareness of the problem of climate change. Over the last 12 years, I’ve witnessed first-hand the effect of rising temperatures. I’m talking about glacier melt, the rising isotherm (the altitude at which snow turns to rain) and the shortening of the ski season from 19 weeks a year to around 17.

Many people cite having children as a reason they have become more sustainability-minded. I’m no different in this regard. Our son is 7 years old as I write this. Being a mum involves answering innocent questions, explaining concepts and discussing "why?" A LOT! As a result, my drive to ‘do the right thing’ is stronger, as is my desire to leave the world a bit better than when I found it. These concepts have taken strong roots inside me.

As COVID pressed pause on travel and industry, the ski lifts closed and furlough kicked in, I had time to think about what I really wanted to do. I started researching how I could use my marketing and communications skills to help move the needle on sustainability. The words of Greta Thunberg, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, and others rang in my ears. It was so clear to me that I needed to take action, but where to start?

I recognised a need to boost my knowledge about sustainability in the business arena. After much consideration, I signed myself up to the University of Cambridge’s Business Sustainability Management short course. It was an 8-week intensive study programme covering challenges and opportunities; regulation and policy; design, technology and planning for sustainability; the business case for sustainability; collaboration and partnerships and more. 

Having completed the course, I’m happy to say it joined a lot of dots for me. It opened my eyes to the variety of complexities and solutions involved in transitioning to a sustainable future. It challenged me in unexpected ways and lead me to meet lots of like-minded people. Above all, it gave me a well-rounded understanding of the subject of sustainability. This will stand me (and my future clients) in good stead on the next step of my journey.

Watch this space for the next chapter...