5 ways we lowered our Business Impact in under 2 hours
We’re all trying to do our part when it comes to lowering our impact and being more proactive. That doesn’t mean we need to spend every weekend jam-packed with (probably shareable… admit it) philanthropic efforts. There are things that you can do, that we’ve done this year, to help you feel like you’ve done your part and still have some free time.
Here are five ways that we lowered our business impact in the last year (all of which combined took under 2 hours to do)
Switching our phone/internet lines to a GoodTel co
When switching to GoodTel, you get to choose a charity that receives 50% of the profit from your bill each month. Our personal pick is Greening Australia and it feels pretty good knowing that when we pay our phone bill, trees are being planted on our behalf. Furthermore, GoodTel offsets their carbon emissions.
Switching our energy provider to one that buys renewable credits
Unfortunately, we still get our energy from coal but we are in the process (with the landlord) of switching to a Powershop plan that buys renewable energy credits. This means that when the energy is distributed from the coal plants to reselling companies, our money will go towards a renewable energy company instead. The more consumers that create demand to source energy from renewables, the better.
Switching our superannuation fund to an ethical super company
On average, it takes about 20 minutes to switch your super fund. It gives us peace of mind knowing that our super is invested in companies that align with our purpose-driven values. Australian Ethical is a superannuation fund that invests your money into renewable energy sources, healthcare, socially impactful enterprises and sustainable agriculture (just to name a few).
Switching our business (and personal) banking to Bank Australia
It was super easy for us to set up an account with Bank Australia (a B-Corp certified bank that ensures your money isn’t supporting the fossil fuel industry). Bank Australia is also customer-owned instead of being listed on the stock exchange meaning they are guided by what customers say instead of external stakeholders. They are carbon neutral; have a proactive reconciliation action plan (RAP); run on 100% renewable energy, and do not lend money to intensive industries or companies that support the live animal export supply chain.
Collecting rubbish on our local beach and recording our ‘discoveries’ on an AMDI data collection sheet
We love getting out to our local beach at least once a day and always pick up a few bits of plastic or a ciggie butt that we see along the sand… It’s a constant and continuous presence, if only small. We like to take it a step further and note down what we find on an Australian Marine Debris Initiative data collection sheet. We usually note it down for 6 months or so on a paper version we keep in a handy spot near the door. After a while, we sit down with a cuppa and enter our data into it. This provides valuable insights into the amount and types of marine debris that are most impacting our coastlines.
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