Responsible Planet

🌍 "Us and Them" – Rethinking Environmental Conversations By Lucy Stuart Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” resonates today as we face similar divides in sustainability discussions, especially around diet and environmentalism. Too often, a “for us or against us” mindset turns discussions into judgment rather than progress. As an environmentalist who tries to eat mindfully but hasn’t fully given up meat, I often feel caught between extremes—each side is quick to critique rather than collaborate. The reality is that sustainable choices look different for everyone. For some, it’s feasible to choose local and plant-based foods; for others, a quick meal on a tight budget is the best option. 💡 Change doesn’t require perfection. If we approach these conversations with empathy and understanding of others’ unique contexts, we can foster progress without division. We’re all aiming for the same goal—a sustainable future. Let’s encourage each other to make the best choices we can, one step at a time. Read the full blog through the link in the comments... #Sustainability #ClimateAction #EmpathyInAction

🎃 Hallow-Green Costumes, Pumpkins, and the Annual Trashpocalypse As Halloween approaches, it’s important to reconsider some of our traditions while taking the fun out of it. With a few small changes, you can help make this Halloween less wasteful and get a little surprise out of it yourself... 👗 Each year, 7 million costumes are thrown away in the UK alone, creating over 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste. The worst part? 83% of these costumes are made of non-recyclable plastic and are often worn only once. ♻️ Consider swapping, renting, or repurposing costumes think DIY zombie fitness trainers or a "dead lawyer" with your regular work clothes. You can use your imagination. 😉 🎃 Every Halloween, 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are discarded, which could’ve made 360 million portions of pumpkin pie! Instead, try cooking your pumpkins into soups, pies, or roasting the seeds. 🙌 Hubbub’s Pumpkin Rescue campaign is helping us rethink pumpkin waste. Their recipe book encourages creative ways to use every part of the pumpkin and keep it out of the landfill. Let’s make Halloween a little greener! 🍃 📰 Want to read more like this? Subscribe to Responsible Planet for our Monday newsletter and Thursday blogs to find attainable and accessible ways to live a more sustainable lifestyle, delivered right to your inbox. 📬 #SustainableHalloween #EcoFriendly #CircularEconomy

If you’ve kept an eye on recent news, you’ll know UK water companies have been in hot water over pollution issues. Here’s why it matters: 💧 Water companies in England discharged untreated sewage into rivers and coastal waters over 300,000 times, amounting to an estimated 1.75 million hours of pollution exposure. This staggering volume impacts rivers, beaches, and drinking water sources across the UK. ⚠️ Pollutants from untreated sewage include pathogens, heavy metals, and chemicals harmful to humans and wildlife. Contaminated rivers pose risks for those swimming or playing in these waters, and untreated sewage creates "dead zones" where aquatic life can’t survive. 💸 Increased water treatment costs millions each year, and clean-up operations place financial burdens on local authorities and taxpayers. Meanwhile, species like salmon, trout, otters, and herons suffer from the decline in water quality. So how can you help? 1️⃣ Report Pollution Incidents 2️⃣ Support Advocacy Groups like Surfers Against Sewage & The Rivers Trust 3️⃣ Pressure Local Representatives to advocate for stricter regulations 4️⃣ Participate in Citizen Science Projects to monitor water quality 5️⃣ Reduce Home Water Pollution by avoiding harmful products and disposing of waste responsibly Want to learn more about the impact of water pollution and how to take action? 🌍 Read our latest post and subscribe to weekly newsletters and opinion blogs. https://lnkd.in/eJU7cBv9 #CleanWater #EnvironmentalProtection #Sustainability #CircularEconomy

🥳 We're thrilled to introduce a new member of our team—Lucy Stuart 🙋 Lucy is a final-year Environmental science undergraduate at the University of Plymouth. She studies the complexity of global environmental issues and potential solutions such as climate change, ecological economics, conservation and science communication. 📕 Outside of the library, she enjoys wild swimming, hiking, climbing and anything creative. Growing up in the countryside gave her a true appreciation of nature and inspired her to dedicate her life to conserving it. 👚 A placement year in Manchester gave her a peek into the fashion industry’s environmental dilemmas, a chance to learn from industry experts and sparked an interest in environmental writing. 💭 She will be bringing you bi-weekly environmental blogs on anything and everything, from opinion pieces on Veganism to dissecting complex scientific challenges and theories. 📖 > You can read more about Lucy and our upcoming blogs in this week's newsletter (posted in the comments).

As I write this, we’ve made some changes to how we present this blog/newsletter (leaning more towards a blog format). I want to share how I plan to write and share content going forward. Some of you may know me and be familiar with my work. For those who don’t… My name is Joseph Mountain, and I am a sustainability expert working in the fashion and homeware industries. Over the past few years, I have worked for various brands across the mass market, premium, and luxury sectors, and I have spent time abroad in countries like India. I also run a non-profit called Future Fashion Fair, which aims to build localized circular fashion systems to drive widespread industry and consumer behavior change. Like many people in their late twenties, I’m trying to be what I would define as a good person—someone who strives to live a life causing as little impact as possible. Despite living and breathing these topics, I still find it surprisingly hard, and that’s because it is. Here in the UK, we haven’t yet developed the products, systems, and cultures that drive and motivate sustainable living. This makes it difficult to separate your plastics, buy locally sourced or high-quality products without driving or breaking the bank. How does this make any sense?! I created the Responsible Planet blog to help people facing the same guilt-ridden, day-to-day struggles and to help you live your life to the fullest, with the planet and people in mind (planet always first!). The goal is to integrate habits, behaviours, and ideologies into your life so that making sustainable choices becomes second nature—it’s embedded into the mainframe, and it feels good. So, if you’re interested in the content, make sure to subscribe, share it with your friends and neighbours, and stay tuned for weekly updates.

The 3 A’s - Plastic Recycling 18th April, 2024 Joseph Mountain Navigating the recycling rules can feel like a quiz you didn't study for. Besides the fact that 50% of the time plastic is single-use. They often consist of various types and qualities, lacking clear recycling instructions. In the UK, recycling capabilities can vary significantly by location and property type. This means that even if an item is technically recyclable, local facilities might not accept it in your recycling bins. This week I want to talk through the different types of plastics that we typically see in the UK what are the best solutions, and what to avoid (if possible)... Aware 💡 Plastic recycling in the UK varies greatly by region and is often confusing. Most plastics are marked with recycling symbols (the little triangles with numbers) which are crucial for determining their recyclability. Understanding these symbols and their meanings makes it much easier to know the next step. Acquire 🙌🏻 Acquiring the habit of proper sorting is essential for effective recycling. In my city centre apartment, I sort plastics marked as PET and HDPE for regular collection and save LDPE plastics for supermarket drop-offs (I'll be honest, this stacks up). Here’s a quick breakdown to help you sort effectively: PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate): Common in beverage bottles and food packaging, widely accepted in recycling bins. HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene): Found in milk jugs and detergent bottles, commonly recycled also. LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene): Used for plastic bags and cling film, typically recycled at supermarkets. *Disclaimer: I think this isnt very accessible for most people... Yes, we all go to the supermarket I know... BUT it's not convenient and sometimes those are the small barriers that prevent people from making those simple decisions. I hope this improves for home recycling... Other Types: Include PVC, PP, PS, and various plastics like polycarbonate, each with specific recycling guidelines but mostly on an industrial level and not consumer accessible. Keeping a bin or bag specifically for supermarket recyclables alongside your regular recycling can simplify the process. I also have this written on my recycling bin so I don't forget. Aspire 🌱 Awareness and action at the individual level can drive broader changes, making recycling easier and more effective for everyone. Despite the imperfections in our current system, every piece of plastic you correctly recycle contributes to a larger change. By being informed and diligent in our recycling habits, we're not just recycling; we're participating in a better mindset and culture for more responsible consumption and waste management. We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments

The 3 A’s - The Tragedy of the Commons 15th April, 2024 Joseph Mountain Easter has finished and Spring has truly sprung! New beginnings? I usually find changes in the season are a natural way to introduce new motives into life to make positive changes to myself and my my habits. The Tragedy Of the Commons is a great tool to understand the needs of oneself and other stakeholders (including the planet). It can be referenced to reflect many topics and views - political, moral, but also day-to-day habits. Aware 💡 - 'The Tragedy of the Commons' introduces us to a shared village field known as the 'Common,' which flourishes under collective care until disorderly and greedy personal gains lead to its destruction. - This story serves as a powerful metaphor for modern environmental issues—highlighting how individual actions, when not aligned with the collective good, can deplete shared resources. - It beckons us to become aware of the balance between personal needs and the well-being of our environment and community. Acquire 🙌🏻 - By acquiring habits that foster sustainable resource management—like mindful consumption, supporting sustainable practices, and prioritising the community's well-being over individual gains—we can prevent the tragic outcomes depicted in the story. - It encourages us to reflect on our actions and their impact on shared resources, pushing us to adopt more responsible behaviours. Aspire 🌱 - ToC invites us to grow our understanding of how our collective actions shape the environment and society. - This narrative prompts us to question why we often act in ways that harm our collective environment, even when aware of the consequences. - It highlights the need for a collective sense of responsibility and a reevaluation of our actions and their long-term impacts. If you have questions or want to learn more about a specific subject, drop it in the comments.

The 3 A’s - We Are Not Alone  28th March, 2024  Joe Mountain Subscribe to the weekly newsletter - https://lnkd.in/eUByq2Mk Living in the city or even in suburbia it's easy to forget that we're just one of the estimated 8.7 million animal species living on Earth. Instagram often reminds me of all the world exploration I'm missing, filled with biodiversity and life. Yet, we humans are by far the most invasive, disruptive, and wasteful. ...Yes, intelligent, you might add (though that's up for debate...), we have detached ourselves from the natural world and with it our ability to know the outcomes of our actions. Aware 💡 - Learn: Humans, making up only about 0.8% of all living organisms, have an outsized footprint, occupying 14.5% of the planet's land. And that's not even touching on the overpour of waste and leakage we inflict on ecosystems outside of our direct occupancy. The lesson here is to become self-aware of our interactions and influences on nature. What we do and how we do it can significantly affect animals and ecosystems both within and beyond our reach. Acquire 🙌🏻 - Habit: Understanding our minor role in the grand scheme doesn't necessitate sweeping lifestyle changes but does encourage a shift in consciousness. It's about adopting a mindset that values our shared world and recognizes the impact of our actions. This shift involves: - Pausing to reflect on our interconnectedness with all life forms. - Embracing habits that acknowledge and respect this bond, such as when you go camping, you always 'pack in and pack out.' Why not apply this principle in everyday life? Take your morning coffee, for example: What coffee am I buying? Could I bring my own coffee cup to the shop instead of using a disposable paper cup that comes from a forest or a plastic lid that will likely end up in a landfill or, worse, the ocean? This causes a cumulative reduction, potentially 20 days a month and 240 days a year.  Aspire 🌱 - Grow: Mindset shifts like this naturally flow into other aspects of our lives. Do I need an extra napkin or straw? Do I need to eat meat or fish every day? Maybe I do, but where is it sourced from? Can I afford to source it responsibly? This newfound awareness and the habits we cultivate from it should lead us toward aspiring for a deeper connection with the natural world. If you have questions or want to learn more about a specific subject, feel free to email at joe@responsibleplanet.co.uk

The 3 A’s - We Are Not Alone  28th March, 2024  Joe Mountain Subscribe to the weekly newsletter - https://lnkd.in/eUByq2Mk Living in the city or even in suburbia it's easy to forget that we're just one of the estimated 8.7 million animal species living on Earth. Instagram often reminds me of all the world exploration I'm missing, filled with biodiversity and life. Yet, we humans are by far the most invasive, disruptive, and wasteful. ...Yes, intelligent, you might add (though that's up for debate...), we have detached ourselves from the natural world and with it our ability to know the outcomes of our actions. Aware 💡 - Learn: Humans, making up only about 0.8% of all living organisms, have an outsized footprint, occupying 14.5% of the planet's land. And that's not even touching on the overpour of waste and leakage we inflict on ecosystems outside of our direct occupancy. The lesson here is to become self-aware of our interactions and influences on nature. What we do and how we do it can significantly affect animals and ecosystems both within and beyond our reach. Acquire 🙌🏻 - Habit: Understanding our minor role in the grand scheme doesn't necessitate sweeping lifestyle changes but does encourage a shift in consciousness. It's about adopting a mindset that values our shared world and recognizes the impact of our actions. This shift involves: - Pausing to reflect on our interconnectedness with all life forms. - Embracing habits that acknowledge and respect this bond, such as when you go camping, you always 'pack in and pack out.' Why not apply this principle in everyday life? Take your morning coffee, for example: What coffee am I buying? Could I bring my own coffee cup to the shop instead of using a disposable paper cup that comes from a forest or a plastic lid that will likely end up in a landfill or, worse, the ocean? This causes a cumulative reduction, potentially 20 days a month and 240 days a year.  Aspire 🌱 - Grow: Mindset shifts like this naturally flow into other aspects of our lives. Do I need an extra napkin or straw? Do I need to eat meat or fish every day? Maybe I do, but where is it sourced from? Can I afford to source it responsibly? This newfound awareness and the habits we cultivate from it should lead us toward aspiring for a deeper connection with the natural world. If you have questions or want to learn more about a specific subject, feel free to email at joe@responsibleplanet.co.uk

The 3 A’s - Ways to adopt positive behaviours 16th March, 2024 Joe Mountain Hello, Apologies for being so quiet. I’ve had some rest time to think of the next steps for Responsible Planet (very exciting) and to help build this community out I want to develop tools and habit skills that mean you can adopt these gradually, rather than daily. News is good to acquire daily, but habits less so. They take time and to make them adoptable we need to think slowly… to make them accessible and more rewarding. So I've created what I call the 3 A’s - A weekly mailer focusing on one topic to help you achieve positive habits, adopt leanings, and aspire to think more consciously about everyday decisions. They look a little something like this…. Aware 💡 - Learn  Acquire 🙌🏻 - Habit  Aspire 🌱 - Grow Aware 💡 - Learn: This initial phase stresses the importance of becoming aware of the need for change, both personally and environmentally. It involves educating oneself about sustainable practices, the impacts of our actions on the planet, and understanding the broader context of sustainability. Learning is the first step towards meaningful change, as awareness is the foundation upon which we build new habits and perspectives. Acquire 🙌🏻  - Habit: After gaining awareness, the next step is to acquire new habits that align with sustainable living and personal growth. This involves integrating new practices into daily life, such as reducing waste, choosing sustainable products, or adopting routines that benefit personal well-being and the environment. Habit formation is crucial, as consistent actions over time lead to significant impact. Aspire 🌱 - Grow: The final step focuses on growth and aspiring towards continuous improvement. This phase is about setting goals for further personal development and sustainability, reflecting on progress, and continuously seeking ways to live more harmoniously with the environment. Growth is both a personal journey and a collective aspiration towards a more sustainable and equitable world. I want to thank all of those who have joined the mailing list so far. It's been so rewarding starting this journey and been great to hear some of the positive influence it's already had.  I look forward to this next chapter and sharing these starting every Thursday! JM Subscribe: https://lnkd.in/eUByq2Mk