“In so far as humans influence the future of the Earth and their world, their choices, however expressed, are their policies. The fundamental question of policy today is whether the realities of this earth, as science reveals them, can be translated into behaviors appropriate to the continuation of life on earth.”
In October 2016, I wrote a blog about the moral imperative to go “carbon zero.” I argued that while reducing emissions is critical, it’s not enough. We need to get carbon out of the atmosphere.
My challenge then, to both individuals and businesses, was to invest in a portfolio of actions that would both reduce emissions AND remove all of the carbon they’ve ever emitted from the atmosphere. It’s about “getting our rubbish off the street.”
In January 2018, I blogged again to announce how I was going about implementing this personal target myself.
Now, in 2020, I’ve formalised My Carbon Zero as a project to inspire as many individuals and businesses as possible to join me on this critical journey. I was buoyed by Microsoft’s January 2020 announcement to be Carbon Negative by 2030 and yes, Carbon Zero - all of its emissions since its inception in 1975 removed from the atmosphere - by 2050. They didn’t say, but I’m sure they read my blogs!
“And if there was a war in heaven once, then we who are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, we who consist both of shadow and of light, we sad, wounded creatures standing between earth and heaven, striving to be whole — can, if we are truly human, choose to be among the healers too”
For the past 20 years I’ve been delving deeply into the far reaches of remote, opaque supply chains anchored in far away places, distantly upstream from where consumers the world over buy their products. What I’ve found has often been disturbing, sometimes uplifting, but almost always totally hidden from consumers increasingly interested in knowing more about the products they’re being offered. More and more consumers want to make wise purchasing decisions informed by accurate sustainability information. Today, that’s really difficult.
I know a lot about many raw materials - at The Forest Trust, we worked on the supply chains of 20 different commodities - or if I don’t, I know the right questions to find out.
There is so much mis-information doled out by companies and their marketing teams to create demand for their products, so many sustainability claims that are at best wide of the mark, but at worse are downright dishonest and totally misleading.
As a consumer, how do you know?
One answer is to buy products that are certified by one scheme or another. My work at TFT revealed the sad truth behind so many certification schemes and their gross inadequacies. I wrote about this in “Beyond Certification”, published in May 2015.
The Product Trust is my initiative to share knowledge on various commodities. I dig deeply into the ingredients behind the products on our shelves to share the stories that truly sit behind labels.
“Man is perishable; but let us perish resisting. And if it is nothingness that awaits us, let us so act that it may be an unjust fate”
My mate Phil Judd and I have been working on an online course to help people the world over get connected to their Duck!
We’ve setup Duck.Studio and though it’s not quite ready, it will be very soon. We’ll have an introductory course to help you get acquainted with your internal, feathered friend and opportunities for deeper dives for those who want to explore more and build that connection.
Beyond the online offering, there’ll be opportunities to participate in retreats and walks, both here in Switzerland and the neighbouring region but also where you are as we take our Ducks on tour.
