Igniting Change Podcast: Episode 9

For our very first podcast, we thought it only fitting to welcome Mark Maslin to the discussion. Not only is he a longtime friend of 3 Sided Cube, but Professor of Climatology at UCL, AND a published author with 10 popular books under his belt! His latest being “How to Save Our Planet: The Facts” and the one he referred to most on the Igniting Change podcast. Pick up your copy here.

Safe to say, Mark knows his stuff and we couldn’t wait to pick his brain (You can listen to the full episode here)

Why is there a disconnect between people’s intentions vs. their actions when it comes to sustainability?

Something that is often not taken into account when we pose this question, is that most people are very busy. Plain and simple! Most people out there are desperately trying to hold down a job or two, to get their kids to school on time, keep their families well fed and on top of all the other life admin.

The pace at which we keep in our day-to-day lives borders on frantic and all of that is just to get by, to survive.

So to turn around and say, “Look. I know you’ve got quite a bit on, but could you just stop and start to worry about the whole planet? C’mon, this is the greatest crisis facing humanity and all you’re worried about is whether or not your kid is eating all the peas on their plate?!?”

And that right there is what we really need to understand, how people think and live their lives in order to find a way of making their intentions so incredibly easy to achieve that the action happens without heaping on top of what everyone has going on. Of course, they want to do the right thing and have a greener lifestyle – so we need to facilitate that. Stop preaching and casting blame, but work out how we can support them to do the sustainable thing without even thinking about it?

For our second podcast, we were so excited to welcome Tolly Gregory to the discussion. She is a climate activist, artist and “trolling for good” enthusiast. We absolutely loved talking to her and were blown away by all she has accomplished in her 20 odd years. She is an absolute force of nature and I for one am excited to see what amazing things she is able to accomplish in 20 years more time!

Kind of like Batman she has her day job (as an artist) and goes as a climate justice activist by night, but instead of saving Gotham, she’s saving the world. Tolly has been an activist since the age of 11 and now uses her online presence to educate others. She gives the climate crisis her full attention by protesting, direct action and organising her community to action.

We jumped right in with the million dollar question (You can listen to the full episode here)

How can we work towards closing the intention-action gap?

It goes back to how we view “action”. We need to move away from this idea that it is solely consumer behaviour. We need action. We need to be more active in conversations, email our MP’s (AKA get out there and nag your MP’s!) and really bang your climate crisis drum in whatever makes the most sense for you!

An action Tolly can get behind is “trolling for good”. If we see fossil fuel companies on social media trying to greenwash their token efforts, then tear into it! Troll them. They are responsible for the mess we are in and doing that destroys their social license. If we all hate them, things will change. Don’t let the bastards win – gotta beat them at their own game.

These are all things that are easy enough to do, and they might seem a bit minor in the grand scheme of things, but shifting it away from being money-centric then it does open it up to more people. It is a lot more accessible and empowering to use your voice! Action doesn’t have to be this massive, time and money consuming thing, but all this adds up and squarely places the power with every individual.

For episode this episode, we were so excited to sit down and chat with Molly Webb! She has a heritage of climate action and lobbying and is the founder of Yoyu Tech.

Yoyu is an app for both iOS and Android that lets you log on and check the cleanest hours in the day to use energy, and also the “dirty” times to avoid using it. They have also JUST launched carbon tracking in the app so you can actually see how those actions of optimising your clean energy usage time add up in terms of how many grams of carbon are saved.

Whether it’s washing your dishes or doing your laundry, the app allows you to see the forecast of cleaner times in order to save carbon. This is a cool example of tech for good and giving people the tools and knowledge they need to make the most sustainable decisions.

We wanted to pick her brain about the entire reason for our ‘Igniting Change’ podcast so we jumped right in. (You can listen to the full episode here)

For episode #4 we were so excited to sit down and chat with Marc Violo, Head of Marketing for Loop and tech and reuse enthusiast!

Loop is a global platform for reuse. We collaborate with brands and manufacturers to enable refillable versions of their conventional single-use products, and partner with leading retailers to embed these offerings into their online eCommerce and physical retail stores. We’re working with category-leading brands, retailers, restaurants, and more to activate a circular reuse ecosystem offering thousands of products – from your cup of coffee to your shampoo bottle – with an aim to make reuse as convenient and accessible as single-use.

Marc’s passion for a Circular Economy is clear, so we kicked-off the interview with our favourite million dollar question (You can listen to the full episode here)

How do we get consumers to change their behaviour to live more sustainably?

For episode #5 we were excited to be able to speak with Paul and as always, our minds were blown by the insights shared by our guest!

Paul is the Founder of Eumelia and they build technology for sustainable futures for hospitality and the food and beverage industry. Eumelia was started about a year ago, and they are currently teamed up with us to build an app that looks at the packaging within food and beverage and hospitality. In hospitality and food and beverage there is still loads to be done for sustainability and Eumelia is facing the challenge head-on.

Paul had a great answer for us on our quest to fully understand the intention-action gap (You can listen to the full episode here)

What are some of the barriers consumers face with the intention-action gap?

For episode #6 we were able to speak with Kate and we were keen to pick her brain all about the intention-action gap and the work she does for B CORP!

Kate oversees the community and their programmatic work with climate and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diverse and Inclusion). She joined B Lab 6 years ago and has always believed in business being a force for good. The idea of recognising our responsibility and our ability to help emerging markets and emerging countries and how we can use the power of business to influence that has been her modus operandi for her entire career.

She was the woman for the job to answer this question (You can listen to the full episode here)

What advice would you give to people that want to live more sustainably?

In episode #7 we were able to speak with Tom Cheesewright. Tom is *the* Applied Futurist, so he helps people and organisations to see, share, and respond to a clearer vision of tomorrow. Which means he works with organisations, governments and charities to not only look into what the near and far term future looks like for them, but what they are going to do about it. The applied bit of his role is taking the learnings from what their future looks like and finding solutions to what they want to fix. Being a part of each client’s innovation and change is a challenge that he thoroughly enjoys sinking his teeth into.

Being an Applied Futurist, we asked Tom to look into his crystal ball to tell us what the future holds (You can listen to the full episode here)

What does the future hold?!

For our last official episode we were excited to have the opportunity to speak with Jo Chidley, founder of Beauty Kitchen all about how reuse really does matter. One of her main drivers for operating is changing the way the beauty industry faces sustainability and she has done that through their reusable packaging system, Re. This system will not only change the way the beauty industry interacts with packaging, but also change the way consumers interact with packaging as well.

Jo and her team have been working hard to solve the challenge of setting up the infrastructure for reuse and reducing those barriers to entry. Because she is a champion for reuse we couldn’t wait to hear her answer for this question (You can listen to the full episode here)