What are you doing as a small business owner to achieve the goal of getting the UK to net zero by 2050?

From 31 October to 12 November 2021 world leaders who had signed up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, met for the Conference of the Parties (COP) this time in Glasgow #COP26

Maybe it was because the COP meeting was in the UK for the first time , or maybe it was because of the catastrophic forest fires in Greece and Canada, floods in Germany  and the fact that nearer to home July 2021 was recorded hottest July in UK that the consequences of climate change suddenly seem so real.

At the end of 2 weeks of negotiations world leaders finally settled on a target of reducing the world’s climate by 1.5oc .We all have our part to play to make this happen as business owners and as individuals even with a service based business like my own.

To quote Sir David Attenborough 

"It's within our power if we make the right choices today "

I was horrified the other day when I was putting out the plastic bin for collection about how much plastic there actually was in it! So these are 12 steps I'm committing to take to reduce my environmental impact both at work and at home.

1. Make use of local refill stations to stock up on things like milk, cereal and spices. Luckily I've quite a few near me including Ballycruttle Farm and Rock House Farm

2. To walk, cycle or take public  transport whenever I can. I only bought my first car in 2014. Previous to that I did the above but then I lived in an urban environment with good public transport and not in a rural environment in NI where links aren't as good.

3. Make my vote count to make sure that I vote in elections and I'm voting for political parties that are really dedicated to making a change in Northern Ireland environmentally. Can you believe for example that we have no Climate Change laws In Northern Ireland and this is currently something that is trying to be brought into legislation.

4. To grow as many vegetables as I can or buy them from a greengrocer with less packaging. Luckily my partner has very green fingers so we're eating home-grown veg for a lot of the season but I have a bit of a penchant for exotic fruit like pineapples and mangoes. We haven't perfected the art of growing those yet though pineapples were grown in an outdoor lean-to at Hillsborough Castle back as far as Georgian times so if they can do it we should give it a go too!

5. Research more sustainable household cleaning and beauty products and to continue using shampoo bars instead of plastic bottles. I get mine from Wild About Soaps which I love.

6. To purchase gifts and experiences from local businesses as much as possible and cut down the need for transport. The Covid-19 pandemic reduced our world immensely but the flip-side was that we found so many fantastic artisan crafters and producers on our doorstep! 

7. To stop purchase of fast fashion and make a conscious effort to buy sustainably made clothes and to have that capsule wardrobe as Samara from Evolve talks about.

8. Restore biodiversity -As a landowner also to do as much as I can to encourage diverse crops and animals. As a flexi-tarian I'll continue  to have meat free days and enjoy yummy veggie meals ( see point 4) . I was also reading a fascinating article recently about how are pets so they might have to get some more veggie treats too!

9. Discover Ireland and keep my footprint small. As a Virtual Assistant most of my work is conducted virtually over Microsoft Teams, Zoom and email but despite that I was still doing quite a bit travelling prior to 2020. I love adventuring to new places and seeing new cultures but  now I will commit to choosing my travelling decisions wisely and not to travel unnecessarily. 

10. Making my home (which is also my office space) as insulated and as environmentally friendly as possible.Where we live we can't convert to gas but it's a very sunny spot beside the water so maybe it's time to get inventive and explore other energy sources such as wave energy? We are also going to save up to replace our old oil guzzling AGA cooker with an electric one and to put in double glazed windows.

11. When buying for my business be conscious of only sourcing recyclable products with no single use plastics (when out shopping for example I now use a rucksack or a wicker basket to reduce plastic bag use),

12. Endeavour whenever possible to source local and if you are in Northern Ireland you will see me often at farmers markets which I assist Joanne from Babble with the set up of.

I’m the Auntie to 2 nephews so I want to do as much as I can to improve the planet and ensure future generations have a planet live on. We can all make that happen if we make the right choices today!

Comment below or let me know via email alison@virtuali.uk what your commitments are.