My environmental confessions: 17 ways I've been living unsustainably and why it's ok to be honest about this stuff.

Why it’s ok to confess to all our unsustainable imperfections. Get them off our chests and move along in a more conscious way. ​

Disclaimer: Sustainability is a big topic and one I’m still just learning about as a human. I feel I still have a long, long way to go in terms of a better understanding. I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and personal confessions in the comments.

Also I left my beard trimmer outside of lockdown in another "social isolation bubble" and haven't bought another one since as I look to reduce my consumption habits if you're offended by the ginger fuzz it's for the good of the planet.

​To get started here’s my own personal laundry list of the ways I’ve been having a non-sustainable impact on the environment over the past few years. This is probably just the tip of the (rapidly melting) iceberg of my unsustainable behaviours. Friends and family feel free to call me up on ones I’ve forgotten:​

1. I was and still am traveling and flying a lot. Some years up to 20 flights. Learn more about travel here https://www.coworksurf.com/blog/flying-and-sustainability-in-travel
2. I was still using a lot of single use plastic water bottles and still to this day I end up losing my metallic water bottles. 
3. I often would not bring and now still occasionally forget my reusable bags at the supermarket.
4. Our company website is currently not at all great for the planet. Something I’ve only just discovered https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/coworksurf-com/ it must be the large video files embedded on there. Our new platform is slightly better https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/coliving-coworksurf-com/ but still really surprisingly not great. Try it with your own sites :/ and let me know what worked well for you. Developers feel free to send us more tips on this too.
5. I was and still am actively encouraging thousands of people to stay at destinations across the world fully knowing they will probably fly to get there.
6. I have bought many surfboards during my life and snapped quite a few along the way too.
7. I was previously doing freelance marketing work for companies who had 0 interest in sustainability.
8. I helped during the early days of digital currency to create and grow interest in an industry that is now a heavy user of electricity.
9. I would often buy clothes new without really caring about the source.
10. I still buy fruits and vegetables from all over the world in plastic packaging.
11. I’ve consumed a lot of meat in my life (now down to once or twice a month)
12. I’ve never bought a bamboo toothbrush
13. I lost the nice quality Patagonia jacket I bought on a night out and have since purchased cheaper alternatives probably made out of unsustainable materials in china.
14. I owned a van in Portugal that had a large engine and would often do solo trips.
15. I bought a bus which to be fair I converted into an office, but that process required a lot of new materials and now it’s sitting in Portugal waiting to be used. 
16. We set up pop up coworking spaces which required new chairs to be bought and construction works to take place.
17. We encourage more tourism to places like Sri Lanka, Bali where overdevelopment and building on natural forests is a massive issue.
18. I released lots of helium balloons in Hyde Park as a marketing stunt

Ok Jesus... that was pretty hard to write and for sure it’s non exhaustive and doesn’t include the plethora of stupid stuff I’ve done throughout my life. I have stopped or reduced a lot of the above behaviours now but not all of them and not completely.

So why is it ok to confess to all this stuff if I'm advocating for change? 

Step one: Be kind. If I’ve learned anything from self development is for us to be kind to ourselves first. There’s no point carrying or attaching stress or guilt to something we have done, but we can gradually address and improve our own behaviours.
Step two: Awareness. The more we talk about the stuff we’re not doing in a collective shared way the more aware we become of it.
Step three: Learn, adapt and change:
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Here’s an incredible in-depth discussion on the circular economy a nice bit of learning for anyone who might be interested in making systemic changes. 

Oh... and that next toothbrush will be bamboo!

Let me know your unsustainable confessions and plans for change in the comments. I promise this is a safe space.