Being what you want to be

I came across a quote this morning, doing the rounds on Facebook: "Never allow waiting to become a habit.  Live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now."

I am unsure of the source of that quote but it certainly has a powerful message.  I think for many of you, you are out there living your dream, taking calculated risks, but for others of you, you may feel that you aren't living life to the fullest or that life doesn't feel balanced, or that something is missing or holding you back.  

Being what you want to be is all part of personal sustainability.  If you remember back to your first block course, you were introduced very briefly to the 9 fundamental human needs.  If you cant remember, here they are: 

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For those of you that feel like you are out there living the dream, if you review these 9 human needs, I would almost guarantee that you could look at all aspects of those and say yes those are being met in my life in a way that works for me.  For those that feel like you are not there yet, looking at your life in terms of these 9 human needs may be a helpful exercise in helping to work out what it is that needs to be included.   Remember we are all very different and each of these human needs may need to be met in different ways for each individual.  

At this link here you can read in more details about what each of these needs entails.  The link also reviews Maslow's hierarchy which came before Max Neefs research.  

If you want to share, we'd love to hear what insights you gained into your own life doing this exercise. 

Have a great week.

Costs of Travel

This week it has been made official at Otago Polytechnic, that each of our schools and service areas will be taxed for air travel.  This means every time a staff member travels, the school has to pay an additional fee equal to the Carbon Offset value calculated on the Carbon Zero website. This ‘tax’ will be charged internally and used to fund sustainability projects within OP.

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This is a significant step for Otago Polytechnic in our quest to reduce its carbon footprint by encouraging staff to reduce non essential air travel, or to come up with alternatives. 

A recent issue of Green Ideas magazine (Feb-March 2014) did a comparison on the ecological impact of air travel vs personal car and train transport. It clearly shows for an equivalent trip, the amount of CO2 produced by a plane per passenger is more than for a car, and way more than for a train. For a trip from the same start point to the same destination this article came up with these figures of CO2 emissions:

• 166kg CO2 per passenger for plane
• 109kg CO2 per car with 1 passenger
• 36kg CO2 per passenger on a train.  

This indicates that a car with 4 passengers is actually the greenest option at approximately 28kg CO2 per passenger.  Of course make and model of plane and car will have some variation on these results but it still remains clear that the cost of flying on the environment is high.  

These figures indicate that it is timely for us all to evaluate our travel options. So, as a student or an employee in a veterinary clinic how does this relate to you? 

• If you are travelling to block course in the same island - is it better to drive than fly?  Could you pick up fellow classmates on the drive and share the carbon (and other) costs?  
• If you are travelling to a conference - is there an economical/time option to drive or take the train rather than fly?
• In your day to day work environment, could your business set up a competition to reduce the car trips/mileage to and from work by staff?  Car pooling, taking an electric powered bus or riding a push bike are all great forms of alternative transport.  Make it competitive and have prizes!
• If you are in a rural practice where the staff travel to farms using vehicles, this is an opportunity to look at energy efficient vehicles when the fleet needs to be replaced. In addition to this, look at reducing mileage travelled by setting up a more efficient booking and call system.   
• On a personal side, short car journeys are way more fuel inefficient and are very costly on the environment as we make lots of these trips.  Evaluate the trips you make in the car over a week or 2 and then look at ways to reduce them.  Could you combine trips so do more in one trip, could you walk a short distance (which also has the benefit of adding exercise)?  Set yourself a personal challenge and see how much you are able to accomplish.

My personal reflection: I have been considering the flights I take to Dunedin each year for work. Over the years I have reduced the number of times I travel to Dunedin, which is a plus.  Now I am thinking whether it would be better to drive: If I fly, it takes me about 3 hours (I have to leave home 1 hour before the flight leaves, the flight takes about 1 hour, then it takes about an hour to get off the plane, get a bag/or rental car and drive into Dunedin city). Driving to Dunedin takes about 4.5 hours so a little longer than flying but still not too bad. The financial costs are significant too, aside from the airfare, there is the transport to and from the airport which can be costly in some cases. If I shared transport with my CHCH colleagues who are often travelling down at the same time, we could reduce the environmental impact, and reduce costs as well, all for a slightly increased travel time.  

Of course what I have covered here is minimal.  I look forward to sharing more ideas on reducing your environmental impact through travel!

Have a great week. 

Rubbish

By the time you are reading this nearly all of you will have had your first block course, or at least a webinar on sustainability.  Here is the link to the presentation that was used for that.  

I hope that presentation has helped a penny drop in some way shape or form and you are starting to do some new thinking.  

If you haven't already, don't forget to look at the Fundamental Human Needs and see how they are being met in your life.  If you find things not being met, think about how you can make changes to help them be met.  

Today's topic is rubbish.  We talked about linear systems in the presentation above and if you have watched the Story of Stuff video you will have a bit more of an understanding on rubbish creation in the whole system. What I am going to focus on here is the rubbish you create and get you thinking about making changes

We have essentially 3 types of rubbish that we commonly deal with day to day (we'll forget about biohazard and known toxic wastes for now): 

• Landfill
• Recycling (with a subset of downcycling)
• Composting (Green waste)

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Landfill is the end of the linear system - anything you send to landfill is a resource lost.  Things that are able to be composted or in some cases recycled (e.g. paper) that go to landfill release powerful greenhouses gases such as methane.  Yes it is true that methane is now harnessed off many landfills but not all are and the product is still a lost resource.  A landfill is designed to contain the waste and for breakdown not to occur, as if this happens there is the risk of leaching toxic chemicals into the waterways which then gets into the food cycle.  However as you are probably aware this is not without its problems and quality landfills are probably only found in countries with good waste disposal systems.  

Recycling - some products can be truly recycled. Paper for example is able to be recycled many times and then once the fibres become so weakened they cant be used anymore it can be composted.   So as long as everyone who puts their hands on the product does the right thing (Product Stewardship) then this is a cyclic system.  However for plastics the system is usually more one of downcycling.  When you put plastic in the recycling bin it is downcycled into another product which may or may not be recycable.  Eventually pretty much all the plastic going to recycling will end up in a non-recycable product and into landfill.  So while recycling allows reuse so does reduce waste it will still ultimately end up at the end of the linear chain.  Another point to be aware of here is mixed recycling (eg where the glass is not separated), results in only being able to make inferior glass products and if someone puts the wrong glass in the bin (eg pyrex) then it contaminates a whole load of glass which cant be reused.  

Composting - this is your organic and garden waste.  If composted properly this produces quality product which can then be used in your garden to improve soil and productivity.  Cotton and wool clothing that has reached the end of its useful life can be composted too.  

So that is common rubbish in a nutshell.  

So now you have a broader understanding on what is happening each time you put something out in the waste your challenge is to think about the products you are choosing to purchase/use in your business and what is happening with the waste.  

• Do you need that product (reduce), Can it and the packaging be reused? recycled?  composted?  What alternatives are available that have less or no waste?  Are the chemicals used (e.g. cleaning products) non toxic on the environment?
• Is all the waste we are producing at home going into the optimal waste stream?
• Consider targeting a certain waste stream - general waste would be the most obvious and measure what you produce in a week at home or in your business and set a target - e.g. reduce by 50% by the end of the year and then share ideas and make choices to achieve that.  If this is a business - use this as a marketing advantage!  Tell your clients what you are doing and give updates on your results.  This also improves success.  Reset the goal once it is reached.  

For you junior staff at a veterinary clinic who say I cant do this - for your boss landfill waste costs money to dispose of.  Reduce it - improve bottom line! and the marketing advantage - clients like companies that are trying to reduce their footprint.  

Tell us what your goals are to reduce the waste you produce.  

  

Being an upstanding citizen

I thought this topic was a good one to start with early in the year.  By now, a number of our student groups have had their first tutorial around sustainability so hopefully will have some ideas around this topic.  

For those who haven't, remember sustainability is not just about saving the environment - its about the personal/social, the financial, and governmental aspects as well.  This post relates to the personal/social aspects.

You will all be familiar with social media.  Many of you probably use it as a way to keep in touch with friends and what is going on in the world.  Most of you will also be posting comments online in these social networks.  

What impact do our comments have on others?

Have a look at this short clip where TVNZ reporters read out online feedback they have received

• How do you think that feedback made those people feel?
• Does anyone deserve feedback like that?
• Does doing this anonymously/on the internet make it ok?
• Do you always make an effort when posting online (and speaking to people face to face) to always ensure what you say is positive and constructive?  

With little effort, we can see all over the internet that comments are being made that denigrate others. In simple terms, people are passing judgement, often without the full story, and without thinking about the effect of their comments on other people.  These comments can have other effects too. Comments can last for a long time online and may be seen by someone influential, potentially affecting future employment or other opportunities. What you say online can affect not just the person you may be commenting about, but also yourself. 

Think before you post. 

Make sure you maintain a professional and beautiful presence online, when on the phone (both spoken word and texting and that also includes the answer phone messages you have recorded) and in person!  Keep comments positive and feedback constructive.  Behaving well in print, as in person will have positive effects on you, your happiness, and on the people you interact with.  

Designing the system

Welcome back to all the students starting on our first programmes to roll out for the year.  I will start the official blogs next week when all the students are back but I thought to give you something to go on, especially those that are currently at a block course who have hopefully been inspired to think about the subject of being future-focussed!

When thinking about making good choices we often just look at the end product and try and make the best choice, which is a good thing but inadvertently may not always be the best for the environment because of all the other impacts along the way.  As consumers we might not have the power to re-design the system, but we can ask questions about the system and pressure designers. Some of us might be able to influence the system.  

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There is a very interesting TED talk (link here) that gives some inspiration into thinking about the whole system and designing with the whole system in mind.  It uses a good example of a paper bag and how, to the consumer, it looks like the best choice. Paper might be the better choice but not if the paper is from unsustainable production. Depending how it is transported - paper may be 10x heavier than a plastic bag, and take that much more space and fuel to transport the same number of bags. Similarly, bags that end up in the landfill are taking up space and not biodegrading rapidly - it would be better if they were composted or recycled. Of course paper vs plastic is not the only option and is not the whole story either. This talk is well worth a watch.   

For more on consumers choosing wisely, see the Conscious Consumers website

Next week we'll explore why we need to have these discussions and as we move through the year, we'll look at how you can influence your workplace even if you are the most junior staff member. I welcome your ideas for blogs and look forward to any and all contributions from students, including stories of what you are doing, or have done.  Join us! Get involved!

Have a great day! 

Summer Playlist - A better you

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Since the academic year is winding up, my regular blog posts will too!  So I thought for my last official blog for the year I would share this TEDTalks playlist that offers a selection of recent talks under the title "A better you"

As we head towards to end of another year, most of us like to review our year's performance and set goals to improve ourselves for the following year.  This set of TEDTalks could provide some inspiration you need. Use this link and play one a night for the next couple of weeks.  

We'd love you to follow this blog and then post your feedback. 

Thanks for reading this year.  I look forward to being back with you really soon!

Simple personal sustainability solutions

I am sure that this topic has come up several times before but I thought this might be timely as the year of study comes to a close and we have more time to consider how to look after ourselves better and perhaps put something in place to allow you to be more personally sustainable moving forward into new careers or the next year of study.

I discovered this little link from an advertisement in Good Magazine which is promoted by Blackmores called "Little Less Little More"  - it is simply asking: What are the things you could do a little less of? What are the things you could do a little more of to make you more personally sustainable?    If you need more motivation than just the idea, you can sign up on the website to help you commit to change.

I think its a great message and something that is easy to aspire to and set little goals.  Recently I have deleted a number of silly time wasting games off my iPad which lead to me having less sleep because I keep saying "just once more" for example.  I stopped using a scooter to travel with the kids to school but instead walk (very fast) or run which uses more energy than scootering.

Please share your ideas here to help inspire others.  Together we can have a more personally sustainable life.

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