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Sustainable Fashion Runways: An Interview with Louise Boughton

UTOPIA-The-Edit — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:32:55 +0000

Sustainable Fashion Runways: An Interview with Louise Boughton

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Fashion

Sustainability

Art

Topic

Sustainable Fashion

Story from: UTOPIA-The-Edit

Behind The Scenes

I was eager to delve into the world of sustainability within the fashion runways and gain an insider’s perspective on the happenings behind the scenes at fashion shows.

In my interview with Louise Boughton @louiseboughton_, an accomplished Irish fashion illustrator and live event artist, she offered compelling insights into the intersection of sustainability and fashion.

Louise’s hands-on approach involves creating freehand sketches and mixed media pieces during live fashion runways, skilfully capturing the ambience, and reflecting the broader political, cultural, and environmental context.

...

Read the full article on UTOPIA-The-Edit online magazine>>

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Mindset is everything: How to approach systemic change to accelerate climate innovation?

Szilvia Szabó — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:46:26 +0000

Mindset is everything: How to approach systemic change to accelerate climate innovation?

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We often hear that `we need systemic change` to address the climate crisis, which sounds like a smart answer, but how should we actually do that?

Mike Townsend, Founder and CEO of Earthshine Group, spent more than a decade searching for the answer and working with organisations to adopt changes on a systemic level to advance sustainability initiatives.

In addition to running the Earthshine Group, Mike also serves on advisory boards and teaches courses on Sustainable Development, Sustainable Business Strategy, and The Business of Change.

He is an author and editor of various books, such as Reframing the Game or The Quiet Revolution, and a regular contributor to Huffington Post, Edie.net, The Guardian, Medium, and others.

You work a lot with universities and educational institutions. What is your impression of how the next generation is facing the climate crisis?

Since I have been working with educational institutions, I have noticed an increasing amount of anxiety among students each year over the last decade based on genuine concerns over the climate crisis and how this will affect everybody’s lives and worries over the state of national and global politics, and the rise of far-right extremism.

It really is a tough and frustrating time, especially as too many of our leaders are falling short of what we need right now.

Mike Townsend, Founder and CEO of Earthshine Group

Yet, we must re-find hope and reclaim agency to act and create a better future.

What I can see is that many students come to Copenhagen from other countries to capture learning, insights, and practical examples that they can take with them and to try to make some form of meaningful change back home.

Many of them are asking, what is my place in this crazy world? How can I make it better?

We take learnings from real-life cases, such as the renewable energy transformation of Ørsted, a Danish energy company that made most of its money from fossil fuels but changed course and became the world’s largest producer of offshore wind energy by 2019.

But we can also look at city developments, like the green neighbourhoods of Østerbro, public transit solutions, cycling infrastructure and urban planning in Copenhagen, or new circular economy business models popping up in Malmö.

Based on their learning experiences, some are getting involved in climate and political activism, while others are looking to become the next generation of business leaders to change the way things are done in commerce.

Some are looking deeply into systems change, particularly the dysfunctional aspects of capitalism, to find a better way.

All approaches are “good work” and help move the dial, particularly when joining forces with other like-minded groups. However, we need to be mindful of timing.

The best way to go is to explore the alignment between your own passions and interests, with your own specific skills and insights, and the opportunities you see to make a real difference: find your own ‘sweet spot’, get the support you need, join up with others in your space, and go for it.

We need this change to happen right now. The decisions we make today will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond.

By working with various organisations in different cultures, have you noticed a common dominator or distinctive differences when it comes to adopting sustainability?

If we try to inject sustainability thinking into the wrong cultural context, we will not get very far.

So, it’s essential to get the right values, mindsets and behaviours in place if we are to have any chance of integrating sustainability thinking and solutions in the right way.

There are key attributes characterise a culture where sustainability can have a soft landing, in my opinion:

Honesty, coupled with the recognition of where we are. Here, we need leaders who are able to face the truth that business as usual is dead.
A mindset of transformation mixed with active curiosity - practically being open to finding new ways of doing things.
Be open to genuine collaboration in developing radical, new solutions, recognising that no single actor can develop and deliver the necessary changes we need to see.
Foster a culture of courageous leadership and being unafraid to experiment and try bold new approaches.

You designed a `model for transformation` to enable systemic change. How does that work?

We developed a model for transformation over the last 15 years based on a comprehensive theory of change. Conventional theories of change tend to be inadequate - often relying on `nudging` and bottom-up change initiatives - lacking impact, penetration and pace.

Our model is designed to help people and organisations navigate risks, opportunity and complexity in a more efficient way. We call this our ‘Star System’ – a multi-level approach to help our clients navigate transformational change, starting with recognising that we cannot become a fully sustainable enterprise in isolation.

For example, we cannot become truly ‘circular’ if we don’t engage with our customers and supply chains and develop genuine business model innovation.

We also need to engage with policymakers to develop appropriate and supportive policy architecture, as well as drive the necessary changes within our system of economy.

Everything changes! And, most likely, we’ve never experienced this level of change before. This means that we’ll also need to look at developing and enhancing our capabilities so we can deliver more successful transformations.

Capability development is, therefore, at the heart of our model.

However, not everyone is ready to engage in this holistic way, with some falling back on the false notion of “easy sustainability” based on superficial initiatives and incremental change.

What is your experience with bigger-scale projects you have worked on? What are the typical challenges, and how can you achieve tangible results?

Looking at key actors to make change happen, you will find no shortage of challenges.

Will politicians, worried about their short-term political and election cycles, fully engage when reducing consumption is hardly seen as a ‘vote winner’?

Will business leaders - often highly successful within a linear economy - adapt their business models and overcome the inertia to change?

Will banks and investors lacking real incentives reboot their expectations for financial and investment success in the twenty-first century, let alone the need for all of us citizens to recalibrate our own views on what the ‘good life’ can look like in a more sustainable world?

The starting point is all about mindset, such as shifting from being a passive consumer towards being an active citizen.

For example, our Sustainability as a Mindset programme is all about developing ‘Both+And’ thinking, which enables you to see past false binary choices such as sustainability vs. economy and look for solutions that are not exclusive - find a new `sweet spot` and developing sustainable solutions that also work commercially.

Our current definition of “success” in life has become somewhat, perversely, interwoven with our buying and consumption habits as an outward display of our status and achievement.

How can you present and embrace sustainability as a road to innovation?

On current terms, we cannot simply hope to “comply” our way out of the climate crisis.

Authentic sustainability is the route to enhanced business performance through creating new market opportunities, de-risking our business models, finding new ways of making sustainable income, and capturing eco-efficiency benefits, with less money spent on resources and waste, energy and carbon, and so on.

In this scenario, sustainability becomes the catalyst for positive innovation and business change.

In our courses, we take a deep-dive exploration into the businesses that demonstrate real insights, take an analytical approach and embark on live company visits so people can see, touch and question for themselves.

"Our embodied learning approach is ten times as effective as conventional training and leaves a longer-lasting, positive impact."

We also like to take participants through a real immersion in nature, getting out of their comfort zone and reconnecting with nature, self and others.

This embodied learning approach is ten times as effective as conventional training and leaves a longer-lasting, positive impact.

With each course we run, we aim to assist attendees in finding the solution that works for them while challenging their thinking.

We need to innovate like crazy and deliver transformational change.

For instance, in our Going Circular course, we are searching for new ways of making money through non-consumption and non-destructive ways, examining how the winners in this space are already doing it for real – and learning how this can be done, with the nuts-and-bolts of new business models.

Ultimately, despite the scale of the challenge, the pressing time frames involved, and the pushback from dark forces, we can re-find HOPE: Through engaging in these conversations with each other, we can realise the shared actions we can take forward in resolving our common challenges.

But we do need to see more courageous leadership, taking more risks, engaging in way more authentic innovations, and daring to fail, learn and try again.

With the right mindset, everything is possible!

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How can we inspire sustainable behavioural change?

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:10:07 +0000

How can we inspire sustainable behavioural change?

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Sustainability Leadership

Mindset

Topic

Leadership

It’s clear that information on its own is not enough to change behaviour. Behavioural science can allow us to understand how people process, respond to, and share information.

This can help us identify the drivers that transform simple awareness into climate action and daily sustainable habits.

Due to its potential, an increasing number of governments are also incorporating behavioural science into many aspects of their policymaking. Padraig Walsh, CEO of ChangeAble, runs a behavioural insights agency and explains the importance behind what his organisation does:

“What we want to do is use the incredible insights from psychology and behavioural science and apply them to make the world a better place.

So many societies' issues such as climate change, health issues, well-being & conflict emerge from human behaviour errors, and we want to disseminate this science and make it relevant in various sectors.”

When asked about the role of behavioural science in driving sustainability, Padraig explains what they often find is there’s a difference between our intentions and our actions.

He shares that policy often focuses on targeting individual motivations and trying to motivate individuals to change when, in fact, people are already motivated and want to be more climate-conscious in their behaviour.

Still, the systems and environments are limiting their capabilities and opportunities for change.

He gives some examples:

“We see this when it comes to financial limitations with the cost of retrofitting or electric cars, educational/skill deficits when wanting to switch to a reduced meat diet, or not having the cooking skills, knowledge, or confidence to change.

We even see opportunities in physical environments that limit the likes of cycling due to safety fears or perceptions of rainfall.”

Padraig Walsh, CEO of ChangeAble and Behavioural Psychologist

“We want to see behavioural science used for good both in terms of making decisions that are good for society as a whole but also data-based decisions that lead to lasting and robust meaningful behaviour changes.”

Padraig proposes an alternative approach, moving away from focusing solely on individual actions.

He explains: “It’s what we call the I-frame (individual) in behavioural science, but more of our work is becoming conscious of the S-frame (systems).

Behavioural insights can help us design human-centred systems in our environments such as at home, in the workplace, in towns and in society that make climate action easier, more attractive, and the default option.”

He adds: “Our knowledge of human decision-making can help us to design these optimal environments for sustainability by making sustainable choices simpler, more accessible and habitual.

However, we first need to understand that framing matters; humans are more likely to change behaviour when challenges are framed positively rather than negatively. How we communicate about climate change and sustainability influences how we respond.”

Padraig explains further:

“Individuals are more likely to feel empowered to act regarding a positive frame such as ‘clean energy will save X number of lives rather than ‘we’re going to go extinct due to climate change’.”

The second sentiment might evoke an emotional response of hopelessness or anxiety and likely won’t lead to effective behaviour change.

Padraig believes we need to take steps informed by science rather than politics or creed.

Since climate change has been looked at as a behavioural concern, we have been able to instil hope in people and motivate them to take action.

However, he feels this has only been possible due to scientific evidence as the basis and not blind politically motivated actions and promises.

He adds: “Addressing the intention-action gap is an important consideration to take into account. Individuals in Ireland are informed about climate change and seldom doubt its existence.

They want to take action but may be confused about the ‘how’. Therefore, the mental load on people can be lessened by having changes on a systemic level and making climate actions easier for us mentally.”

Padraig attests that this can be achieved by using social norms to our benefit. We compare ourselves with those we think are similar to us.

For instance, we may compare our energy consumption to that of our neighbours, and a simple statement on our power consumption bills, starting with how we did compared to our vicinity, can be a powerful motivator for communities to become more conscious of energy consumption.

Padraig shares that his favourite behavioural science model for sustainability is the EAST model.

He says: “It is a powerful and simple framework to think about designing for behaviour change, and it’s particularly relevant to sustainability.

Our goal when promoting behaviour change is to make the desired behaviour - Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely.”

For example, we may be able to increase the cycling population if it was made easier to get access to cycling routes or if people had ease of access to bike-sharing schemes.

We can make sustainable meals more attractive in their appearance and description.

For instance, we could say ‘delicious creamy pasta’ instead of ‘vegetarian’ or ‘meat-free’. Emphasis on people’s social identity for a message to appeal to them can result in more initiative.

EAST framework. Image: Designorate

Padraig shares: “Using competition within and in between groups for sustainable goals can promote actionable change.

These techniques, coupled with a timely implementation, can make all the difference.

We can provide first-year students tips to shop sustainably or provide interest-free loans to students to buy public transport passes.

Adopting the EAST model can be highly beneficial once done with due consideration.

He says: “We are habituated to living a certain way, consuming a certain amount of goods or having a particular mode of transportation.

This requires systems-level change and effective policy as much as it requires individual willpower and motivation. Combined, however, behavioural insights and human/planet-centred design offer us hope that change is possible.”

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Sharing joy with delicious and sustainable treats

Szilvia Szabó — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:07:11 +0000

Sharing joy with delicious and sustainable treats

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Sustainability

Business

Topic

Sustainable Food

Bringing happiness with a little treat is the headline of Dublin-based Rua Food, which was born from a desire to bring healthy, wholesome food to a world too busy to cook.

Founder Alice Tevlin created a range of all-natural, gluten-free and mostly plant-based delicious snacks to supply cafes and businesses in addition to home delivery.

What sets these treats apart from others is not only the taste and healthy ingredients but also the sustainability elements of how they are made and distributed.

Alice left a job in in banking in 2014 to do the Ballymaloe Cookery School 12-week Certificate Course that covers a wide range of world cuisines and techniques and turned out to be a life-changing experience for her.

After travelling and living in Australia for a while, she returned to Dublin in 2018 with the intention of working for herself as a transition period, not anticipating that she would still be at it five years later.

Alice Tevlin, Founder of Rua Food

Alice says: “Rua started as a freelance catering gig while I figured out my next step. I was catering small events, making salads for a few Cafés and making meals for friends and older people in my area.

Then, during COVID lockdown, everything changed. Cafés in my area needed treats, and I was very keen to make them as accessible as possible, so I began making cookies and other treats without gluten or dairy for people to enjoy with their coffee on their allotted daily walks.”

The business went from strength to strength, and winning with their Golden Toasted Nutty Granola at Blas na hÉireann or Irish Food Awards was a moment to celebrate. Earning this recognition allowed Rua to use a well-recognised sticker on their packaging, which was a significant push to establish their presence on the market.

Alice created a range of all-natural, gluten-free and mostly plant-based delicious snacks. Image: Rua Food

Giving birth in 2023 brought her attention to the overwhelming challenges of managing every aspect of being a new mum and trying to breastfeed on top of everything else.

While Alice loves all the snacks they produce, she is proud that she could design lactation cookies to help support breastfeeding mums, using specific ingredients traditionally considered to increase milk flow, such as oats, brewer’s yeast, and linseed.

Becoming a mum also made her realise how much she appreciated the team running Rua. “One of my biggest achievements is creating an amazing team that cares about the business and goes the extra mile for Rua, especially when I was home with my baby.”

Another area that Alice feels she proactively wants to bring change is sustainability.

“When I created the Hazelnut and chocolate Truffle Bites from the waste of our Hazelnut Brownie, it was a step to mitigate food waste, but it was also a financial step. If you are throwing away food, you are throwing away money – profits! It is a no-brainer.”

“Sustainability is at the core of everything we create in Rua. Sometimes, it feels like you’re fighting a losing battle with costs and industry norms, but we continue striving for the best outcome for us and future generations.”

She emphasises that she never had to think twice about sustainability, saying that it is simply a part of business and a part of life.

“Being more sustainable means keeping costs down, minimising waste, and not wasting precious resources like time and energy. As a food producer, it is so important to put sustainability at the forefront of any conversation.

Between increased prices, climate anxiety, and fear for the future, any choices we can make now will not be in vain.”

However, according to Alice, the barriers to adopting sustainability include the need for more resources, more expensive compostable options for packaging, or simply taking the time to research.

Another challenge comes with supplying their food for retail, where managing packaging is a real hassle to comply with regulations and stay on the sustainability side. Right now, the basic solution is to use recyclable packaging.

"If you think about it from the retail point of view, the breakthrough would come if they considered being a sustainable business just as much as being health- and safety-compliant. ”

Working with wholesale customers, they could adopt a reusable system while compostable packaging is used with home delivery.

Referring to their sustainability commitments, she adds that they follow a zero-waste ethos to ensure that not an iota of food gets thrown away, which even influences designing products.

“I made the call to change the shape of our Tracker Bars to Tracker Balls to eliminate any potential waste when cutting the bars into rectangles.”

Besides the production, Alice also has to face managing the business.

The support from the Dublin Local Enterprise Office (LEO) immensely helped her overcome challenges by sharing advice and options for thinking about business issues, namely Cathy McPadden from the LEO, who has helped enormously in the past 12 months.

Alice Tevlin is passionate to create treats with healthy ingredients but also to add sustainability elements of how they are made and distributed. Image: Rua Food

“Receiving the Business Expansion Grant also helped with investing in machinery to speed up our processes alongside participating in the Green for Business program that pointed out areas to become more sustainable.

Also, once you are connected with the LEO, you become part of that community and embrace opportunities for extra exposure and networking, which is also very important.”

The plan for Rua is to continue to grow and spread out further across Ireland and beyond to bring this unique line of products to more people.

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Am I filling my boots? Changemakers battle with imposter syndrome

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:48:14 +0000

Am I filling my boots? Changemakers battle with imposter syndrome

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Imposter syndrome is not a mental health issue but is a strong set of intrusive thoughts and feelings involving getting anxious and not experiencing success internally.

Usually, people experiencing this emotional whirlwind are high-performing in external, objective ways. However, they still feel like ‘a phoney’ or a fraud’ and question and doubt their abilities. They are continuously anticipating their fraudulence and inadequacy to come to light.

There is added stress with imposter syndrome to keep up the ‘charade’; that time is running out, and they will be uncovered.

Generally, imposter syndrome creeps up when you begin to appear publicly or in front of other people.

As a leader trying to make change happen, initiate climate action or raise awareness about societal issues, putting yourself out there into the world is part of the deal.

Some common characteristics of imposter syndrome include undervaluing contributions, self-doubt, and attributing success to external factors.

A survey by NerdWallet uncovered that 78 per cent of business leaders experience imposter syndrome, and it causes 59 per cent to consider leaving their role.

Sabotaging self-success, constant fear of not living up to people’s expectations, setting unrealistic expectations, and burnout are also known to occur.

Burnout enters the equation here because it is very common for people to push themselves too intensely to overcome a sense of incompetence.

Slowly, their work becomes more of a chore than a source of passion, purpose, creativity, and meaning because they are burning the candle at both ends.

Imposter syndrome drives anxiety and fear of not being good enough and can easily lead to burnout and mental health issues. Image: Pexels

If you are working in the sustainability or social justice space, leading an ambitious project, you’ve probably experienced imposter syndrome before on some level.

It is partly because you are not just exposing yourself but have the added challenge of trying to get people to ‘buy’ into your mission and, most likely, your passion.

You may think to yourself: ‘Why should they listen to me?’, ‘There is probably someone more suitable to drive them to make these changes’, the list goes on.

Imposter syndrome is something I feel regularly and has only intensified since I transitioned from a freelancer to a social entrepreneur by founding Purpose Content Studio, which set out to change the climate narrative. Now, I find myself feeling out of my depth and far outside of my comfort zone.

It doesn’t sound so bad when you see the word ‘owner’, but the title ‘CEO’, ‘Founder’, or ‘Director’ definitely causes some uneasiness, particularly for those who do not have the highest levels of self-esteem, like me. I think it is because a lot of pressure comes from these titles.

Especially when operating in arenas where change is vital, there is real pressure that because you are a ‘changemaker’ or ‘leader’, you must have all the answers and constantly achieve small or big wins.

Just as many are hesitant to adopt sustainable changes or take climate action for fear they won’t add up to much of an impact, those who suffer from imposter syndrome worry their contribution won’t matter.

Like most people reading this, I have put in the time, energy, and hard work to get to where I am today.

There’s much evidence to suggest I am wearing the right shoes, but still, my mind needs some convincing, and I worry I need to go up a size and a half.

Some may even think imposter syndrome is not a big deal, that it has more to do with self-image and esteem.

However, research has found that it can impact work performance and relationships, dripping into other areas of your life; in my experience, I’ve found myself suddenly not feeling competent or good enough in other instances.

The premise of imposter syndrome is that you are not good enough, and your current portfolio of achievements is the simple result of luck, leaving you with that little voice in your head of self-doubt despite success – washing away the enjoyment of your achievement.

Our minds are like sponges, and just as we can recondition to improve our well-being and self-esteem, continuously thinking poorly of ourselves can do the exact opposite.

Of course, ‘snapping out of it’, as some would say, is a lot easier said than done.

Despite imposter syndrome being incredibly common in the social entrepreneur and impact innovator community, many still feel ashamed to speak openly about experiencing it.

In saying that, silence and isolation are what keep these demons kicking.

You’d be surprised to learn how many people in your circle are dealing with these exact struggles, feeling inadequate and worthless. In order to deal with imposter syndrome and replace these feelings of incompetence with beliefs of adequacy and greatness, we need to encourage conversations.

Imposter syndrome has to stop being a hush-hush topic and be understood as something we all struggle with at some point, reframing it as a signal that it is time for growth and good things are pending.

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Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

Bronagh Loughlin — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 19:37:26 +0000

Piloting innovative sustainability ideas for increased adaptability, relentlessly

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Circular Economy

Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goals

Topic

Sustainability

Circular Economy

Axfoundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Sweden, working concretely and practically toward building a sustainable society.

Together with more than 300 partners across industries and sectors, the Foundation tackles local and global sustainability challenges based on practical issues related to what we buy, the food we consume, and the resources we utilise.

The organisation sees itself more as a ‘do tank’ as opposed to a think tank and innovates and accelerates solutions within Circular Economy, Future Food, Sustainable Production and Consumption. They believe entrepreneurship is a powerful force for change and use business to accelerate long-term transformative change.

Their current projects stretch across 15 industries, including textile, waste, fishing, food, retail, recycling, agriculture, and technology.

The home of many projects they run is the Torsåker Farm, Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems, located 30 kilometres north of Stockholm, Sweden.

The environment at the test farm is ideal for evaluating sustainable farming methods, identifying waste streams for circular solutions, and test growing both new and old crops.

Torsåker Farm - Axfoundation’s test and development centre for sustainable food systems in Sweden. Image: Axfoundation

At the farm, actors across industries and sectors come together to take on complex issues in real-world conditions and explore solutions that would be impossible to test alone. They then bring the results from the fields and the lake for processing in the test kitchens.

The Farm contributes to the increased use of sustainable animal husbandry and agroecological farming methods while also fuelling the efficient and circular use of resources and reducing the use of antibiotics for food-producing animals.

Another interesting project led by Axfoundation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) was a pilot-scale infrastructure to convert waste from the Swedish food industry into quality raw protein material for animal feed.

The result was Sweden’s first green rainbow trout fed with a circular-based fish feed composed mainly of insects. The project ended in 2022, and the life cycle analysis revealed a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent compared to conventional fish feed. The next step was to take the lessons learnt further by testing circular feed for chickens, pigs, and laying hens.

Embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, is part of Axfoundation`s work. Image: Axfoundation

Although sometimes innovation comes from simply realising what is missing.

That was the case with embracing an underutilised fish species, the Swedish bream, to get more recognition.

With a from-lake-to-plate approach, they created the Minced Bream – a versatile product with a neutral, fine taste that has received positive reactions from school students and chefs.

A circular project led by the Foundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative, paving the way to zero waste since 2020.

Sweden imports more than 1,700 tonnes of wool annually; meanwhile, less than 50% of all the wool produced by Swedish farmers is used.

Teaming with 20 partners, they set out to develop a new yarn made from previously discarded wool and enable brands within fashion, outdoor, and home textiles to access qualitative and competitive wool easily.

A circular project led by the Axfoundation is the Swedish Wool Initiative. Image: Axfoundation

Axfoundation took on another challenge in the field of agriculture about using tonnes of residual product generated from oat drink production.

The Over & Oat project was launched to explore how to turn oat drink residues into new food and materials in a sustainable and economically viable way.

Looking at global issues, such as plastic consumption, predicted to quadruple in the coming century, the organisation launched the Plastics Progress Tools initiative to support companies on their journey toward more responsible use of plastics.

They designed a digital tool that will compile and analyse plastic data, which can form a basis for strategic prioritisation and decision-making. Further embracing digital tools, they took the lead on the ProPare project under the Sustainable Production and Consumption branch.

This technology aims to act as a global standard for digital product passports. It is perfectly timed as the EU is expected to implement new legislation requiring nearly all products available on the European market to have a digital product passport.

These passports will offer sustainability data to help drive the adoption of the circular economy. Axfoundation is on the journey to prove that turning great ideas into practical solutions by pivoting can help address large-scale sustainability challenges immensely.

They may not always go as planned, but that is the point and a crucial part of the learning curve. To innovate sustainable solutions and achieve transformative change, failure must not be feared but embraced.

These pilot projects are telling us, clear and loud, that ideas with great potential deserve a fighting chance because they could have a real, genuine impact when scaled up and implemented.

Headline image: Unsplash

This article is an extract from content originally published in the Circular Economy in Action special edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine - you can read the full article and other features in the magazine.

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Can we have it all? Sustainable Hedonism on the rise

Business Spirit News reporting — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:21:04 +0000

Can we have it all? Sustainable Hedonism on the rise

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Sustainability

Book

Sustainable lifestyle

Topic

Sustainable lifestyle

The Sustainable Hedonism book calls us to explore our collective and personal convictions about success and good life.

Author Orsolya Lelkes is an independent scholar, psychological counsellor, and former Deputy Director at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna.

Sustainable Hedonism book by Orsolya Lelkes; Published by Bristol University Press

She challenges the mainstream worldview, rooted in economics, that equates happiness with pleasure and encourages greed, materialism, egoism and disconnection.

Drawing on science and ancient Greek philosophers, the author details how we can cultivate our skills for enjoying life without harming ourselves or others and live an autonomous, creative, and connected life.

Complementary to our intellectual understanding, the experiential method of role-playing and theatre can powerfully facilitate the exploration of the inner drivers and hindrances of a thriving life.

Jonathan Dawson, Head of Economics at Schumacher College expressed his thoughts about the book in a review:

“Beyond the empty, sterile promises of consumerism, there is a place rich in meaningful engagement with ourselves, others and the more than human world.

A rediscovery of our bodies – specifically in the form of theatre and role-play – provides a powerful channel for this re-awakening. This is the territory that Orsolya Lelkes so skilfully and powerfully explores, helping us to re-engage with the power of embodiment.”

The author shares her thoughts about writing the book and how to utilize the knowledge you can find in it:

“I wanted to have the freedom to write about something that I feel relevant, and I’m passionate about.

When I started the book, I had two central pillars in my life: one was researching social science, social justice and happiness, and the other was working with individuals as a coach and group facilitator.

While I was involved with these topics, I felt that there was a wall between the two sides of research and people looking for better ways to live their lives.

I also wanted to break down this wall by looking at how we can find a way to fulfil our dreams without destroying our planet.

By putting sustainability and hedonism together, I meant to provoke a conversation.

We usually don’t see sustainability as the freedom to enjoy life but rather as restrictions and limitations to what we can do.

Orsolya Lelkes, Author of the Sustainable Hedonism book

For me, it is also about that we can learn to enjoy life more and be conscious about our environment at the same time.

One of my goals with the book was to open up the conversation about what we need for success and how we can redefine and refine our narratives about being successful and happy in a capitalist economy that is basically built on continuous consumption.

When you learn about the economy in education, they will teach you that human beings are egoistic, pleasure-seeking, and competitive.

This is just one example of the unquestioned beliefs in our economic system that drive a self-fulfilling prophesy that we are becoming more egoistic, pleasure-seeking, and competitive.

One of the biggest challenges in adopting a sustainable lifestyle is that it sounds like an invitation that says you need to lose many things from your comfort to join, and who wants to do that, really?

I believe that our pleasure-seeking side and responsible side shouldn’t be in conflict when it comes to sustainability.

Our lives are strongly shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, both individually and collectively. We are often unaware of our potential to transform them and take many things for granted.

Another narrative rarely questioned in our society is that we need many material-based things in our lives to be happy.

If you think about building a reputation or exhibiting power, you show that through materialistic elements. We are trained and seduced to think of success primarily in material terms, money, consumption, things we own, or external power and reputation.

This is not optimal for a happy life. It is not a resilient strategy – as it is vulnerable and exposed to the mercy of others or of external fortune. But actually, some research found that these people with a materialistic focus are less happy and even less resilient. It is interesting to consider that what we value as a society and what is good for us on an individual level are not the same thing.

I hope this book will become more than just intellectual knowledge and invite people to explore and experiment with how they live, considering some of the content I wrote.

I’d like to invite pioneers, innovators and critical thinkers – who do not simply want to point the finger at others but seek their own role in contributing to a solution to the failures they witness.

The last chapter is fundamentally about allowing ourselves to live with a playful, curious and friendly spirit.

I don’t want to be the clever person who tells you what to do.

Instead, I would like to encourage people to discover more about their options for living a happy and sustainable life.“

Headline image: Noah Silliman, Unsplash

This content is a piece of an article originally published in the "Make change happen" issue of Profit with Purpose Magazine.

The Summer 2022 edition of the magazine is focusing on making cities sustainable and inclusive, and is available here >>>

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How to get your impact story featured in media?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 May 2023 11:14:40 +0000

How to get your impact story featured in media?

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Annual plans and New Year`s resolutions are probably behind you by now, but that shouldn`t hold you from exploring some untapped potential in boosting your impact.

Why not make 2023 the year when you get your stories in the spotlight to raise awareness and engage with your audience?

Writing a press release that catches attention, having a practical media toolkit that helps you spread news or delivering an engaging interview could give your message an extra boost, helping you to achieve your goals.

Why social innovators are not covered more in media?

The answer might be plainer than you`d expect.

Besides handling the everyday challenges and neverending to-do lists, one of the most typical reasons is the lack of confidence and knowledge of using media relations and tools correctly.

In addition, nervousness naturally kicks in when it comes to public speaking, giving an interview or even writing content.

However, with some learning and practising, you could make the leap and use the power of communication to advance your agenda.

Learning opportunities to boost your message

Using media communication tools can give you a headstart in raising your profile, reaching and activating a wider audience while increasing your impact.

Here are a couple of simple steps you can take:

Do media training for impact innovators, where you learn how to handle situations like speaking at a podcast, giving an interview, engaging with media at events or making the most out of press releases. Getting the hang of media communication is like learning ice skating - you start out a bit wobbly, but after practising, you start gliding and smiling.

Learning media and Impact Writing skills could significantly amplify your message.

Change your approach to writing and publishing your impact report, as it has so much communication potential that you don't want to miss it. Haven`t you published one yet? Maybe the time has come to start advancing your agenda by start sharing your impact in a professional manner.

Make it easy to find and use information about your work, campaign, or else about your mission. It might sound very basic, but in reality, this is the most typically missed step to unlock potential in media communication. The best way to do that is to prepare and start actively using a professional media toolkit.

It is easier than you might think to utilise opportunities in PR and other forms of media communication, including public appearances, which can be nerve-wracking.

There are various learning options, such as attending programs and sessions held by the Impact Writing Institute, where you can harvest the benefits of working with expert trainers whether you are joining as an individual or have tailor-made training at your organisation.

This is not about you getting famous but shining a light on issues that need to be addressed and enabling people to get involved.

What really matters is to get confident about speaking up and be ready to share your story in a way that engages and mobilises your audience.

Giving yourself a chance to learn and expand your horizon using media communication should definitely be on your radar for boosting your impact in 2023 and beyond.

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Bringing a four-day celebration of the Circular Economy to Ireland

Bronagh Loughlin — Thu, 18 May 2023 11:26:16 +0000

Bringing a four-day celebration of the Circular Economy to Ireland

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Circular Economy

For the first time, Dublin is hosting the Circular Economy Hotspot on 29th May-1st June, placing Ireland’s capital in the epicentre of European Circularity.

The application for Dublin to host this prestigious international event is a result of the close collaboration of strategic partners led by The Rediscovery Centre with the Department of the Environment, Dublin City Council, the Eastern & Midlands Regional Waste Management Planning Office (EMRWMP), and CIRCULÉIRE.

“The Circular Economy Hotspot is an opportunity to bring together some of the best minds, thinkers and activists around circular economy and social economy,”

says Mary Mac Sweeney, Executive Manager Acting of Culture, Recreation and Economic Services, Dublin City Council.

The Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin 2023 event will take place on 29th May- 1st June 2023.

The event provides a great chance to learn from, network with, and be inspired by the very best actors working in this field.

Attendees can learn about the practical steps and resources to take home and implement through conference talks, tours, workshops, and topic deep-dives.

The event brings together policymakers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, researchers, students, industry, and citizens from Ireland and further afield.

It is a time to highlight ground-breaking circular economic initiatives, best practices, and innovation, with each host country putting together a programme showcasing how their country or region contributes to the transition towards a circular economy.

This year the Hotspot will establish a global dimension as two other global regions are also participating as hosts: Lagos, Nigeria and Santiago, Chile.

Speaking on the areas that will be explored, Dr Sarah Miller, CEO at the Rediscovery Centre, shares: “Dublin is home to some of the world’s greatest circular economy leaders and innovations.

As a host of Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin 2023, the city will showcase circular economy progress made in design and manufacturing, food systems and the bioeconomy alongside social enterprise activity.”

Dr Sarah Miller, CEO at the Rediscovery Centre

She adds: “Tackling Dublin’s housing crisis through circular solutions will also be explored, going beyond green building materials to look into additional benefits that can be designed into our city to improve well-being and encourage carbon-positive lifestyles.

The Circular Economy Hotspot Dublin is a cross-sectoral and public engagement event, providing the perfect platform to present the circular economy as a positive framework for the city to demonstrate adaptation and growth within planetary boundaries.”

Dublin will not only represent Irish circular economic innovation in 2023 but become a focal point of circularity across Europe while building on the momentum of recent developments, harnessing the cultural influences that are unique to the city.

Dr Joanne Rourke, Resource Efficiency Officer, EMRWMP, shares: “What we’re hoping to do is to build on the momentum of earlier Hotspots in other capital cities, but also to build on the momentum that is happening now in Ireland.

We envision the Hotspot will act as a spark to start the circular economy fire.”

Now in its seventh year, the Circular Economy Hotspot initiative has become a flagship event on the calendar for many leaders and experts across industries and policy.

The Netherlands first organised it in 2016, and the event has spread much further since to Catalonia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and Scotland.

Dublin city balances a local village feel with the buzz of a vibrant and modern capital city at the heart of European life. Since 2020, Ireland and its capital have witnessed a significant drive to share knowledge, invest, and foster the circular economy.

Irish support for European initiatives also remains amongst the highest in the EU.

As a capital city, Dublin can showcase the impact of these recent flagship circular economy policy funds and measures led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC).

Dr Geraldine Brennan, CIRCULÉIRE’s Lead and Head of Circular Economy at Irish Manufacturing Research, remarks:

“Ireland is ripe for innovation, and a lot of circular economy excitement is bubbling up.

What is genuinely exciting about this year to Dublin is the fact that over the last number of years, Ireland has pivoted towards embracing the circular economy as an economic development model.”

Dr Geraldine Brennan, CIRCULÉIRE’s Lead and Head of Circular Economy at Irish Manufacturing Research

The opportunity to host the Circular Economy Hotspot is a value-based partnership as Dublin has a lot to offer as a host, and equally, the event has a great deal to bring Ireland in turn.

The event will bring global visibility to circular economic initiatives here in Ireland and establish global opportunities for Dublin.

It will also pay homage to the strengths Ireland has to offer the circular economic community.

Ultimately, the Hotspot will bring the circular economy to life, making it part of the day-to-day lives of citizens and event attendees from the public sector, policymakers, industry, and start-ups alike.

This content is originally published in the Circular Economy in Action special edition of the Profit with Purpose Magazine.

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Can sustainability be funny?

Szilvia Szabó — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 13:02:26 +0000

Can sustainability be funny?

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Master students can choose to write comedy scripts on sustainability issues as part of a unique course at the Management Program of the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

Dr André Martinuzzi, creator and leader of this trailblazer course, shares insights on using the power of humour to help students better understand and deal with complex sustainability topics.

Environmental protection, social responsibility, and sustainable development are often perceived as killjoys, and young people typically feel pessimistic about their future.

When we started looking for new and innovative ways to motivate students to engage with serious sustainability issues, we found that humour might be a promising method. It has the potential to help increase students’ self-motivation and awareness of current sustainability challenges, such as climate change or poverty.

Dr André Martinuzzi, Head of the Institute for Managing Sustainability Vienna University of Economics and Business

The idea sparked as I watched late-night comedy shows for quite some time and was very impressed by John Oliver’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ and Hasan Minhaj’s ‘Patriot Act’. Instead of making fun of daily life or commenting on day-to-day politics, they both explain scientifically challenging subjects in a hilarious way.

The more I watched these shows, the more I asked myself if it was possible to give students the task of developing comedy scripts instead of writing seminar papers.

On this basis, with two assistants, Florian Findler and Angelo Spörk, we designed and continuously improved a course where students use humour by working in a group, creating scripts in the style of late-night comedy. To our knowledge, no one has tried this before.

Within the scripts, humour is not used to make fun of serious issues. Instead, it is used to illustrate sustainability challenges in a scientifically sound and easily understandable way while raising awareness.

In order to do that, students have to understand the basics of humour and comedy scriptwriting, need the courage to be funny and have the freedom of creativity while dealing with serious and rather complex issues.

Many of them tell us that humour helps them communicate better about challenging topics in their peer groups and reach people who would otherwise not be interested in the subject.

Students have created scripts that cover various topics such as the Sharing Economy, E-mobility, fast fashion, greenwashing, food waste, supply chains, and smart homes.

A good punchline is surprising and reveals a more profound truth.

Therefore, developing good comedy takes expertise because humour is more than just fooling around.

Based on the experiences and evaluations of the three courses we already delivered, we learned a few lessons:

Humour is a craft and not a talent, which requires practising.
Students better understand a specific topic by writing comedy scripts than by writing standard seminar papers.
Humour can be integrated into courses that are not genuinely funny. Students reported that this approach helped them to boost their creativity and imagination.

Our experience has also shown that humour can point out grievances. At the same time, exaggerated characters can make people realise their own unsustainable behaviour or ask the question, 'Do we really want to go there?’.

We created a dedicated website to share more about our learnings so others can explore options for implementing this method.

Writing comedy scripts can help young people better engage with sustainability and social issues.. Image: Getty Images

Naturally, there are some challenges in integrating this approach into teaching.

Teachers may see the use of humour as inappropriate for academic subjects and find it beyond their abilities to support students sufficiently through empowerment and steering. The question also arises if this approach can be used on topics like extinction, climate change, or human rights, which are very serious issues and where urgency could be diluted by humour.

Of course, this approach is unsuitable for classes that aim to teach the basics as quickly as possible.

For the students, humour can also be a coping strategy to better deal with emotionally stressful issues such as biodiversity loss, human rights violations or climate change.

For example, one student said, 'if you don't laugh about it, you should cry', while another student shared, "humour helps me not to feel powerless, to gain emotional distance and to be able to talk about things that I otherwise tend to repress".

Students look forward to this course because it is entirely different from the typical classes at a business school.

The course design consists of the following elements:

Students work in groups of 5-6 on major sustainability challenges, such as land use, low-cost airlines, cruise ships, fast fashion, food waste, animal suffering, or bee mortality.
Together they carry out brief background research and co-develop a collection of materials on the recent problem, its causes and possible solutions.
Simultaneously, they take part in basic improvisation theatre training, gain insight into the building blocks of humour and learn how to develop sketches, jokes and punch lines.
Each student group develops the concept for a comedy script, containing an elaborated storyline and first humorous examples.
In several rounds of rehearsals and presentations, they receive feedback regarding scientific background, storytelling and humour.
Finally, the students give an 8-10 minute performance of their scripts in front of the classroom.

The course has already been implemented three times, received excellent feedback from the students and won the "Best of Austria Award" thanks to its innovative approach.

Headline image: Getty Images

This content is a piece of an article originally published in the "Make change happen" issue of Profit with Purpose Magazine.

The Summer 2022 edition of the magazine is focusing on making cities sustainable and inclusive, and is available here >>>

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