People everywhere are turning their hearts and minds toward sustainability. Many corporations are taking significant steps to reduce their carbon footprint while taking moral stands on multiple issues.
At COP 28, the world took an initial step away from fossil fuels, which was an encouraging sign, yet we must continue our progress in this area.
Reward Yourself With Something Green
Rewarding yourself can be an excellent way to stay motivated on your sustainable journey. From planting seeds in your garden or buying plants as gifts for friends to yoga classes – rewarding yourself can help keep you on the right path toward meeting your sustainable goals while encouraging others to do the same!
Making an impactful statement about our commitment to sustainable living can certainly motivate people, but maintaining efforts can sometimes feel tedious or ineffectual. If this occurs for you, give yourself something green that won’t derail your efforts, such as purchasing a reusable coffee mug or houseplant.
Start small, but use these rewards as visual reminders that you are on a sustainable journey towards creating a brighter future.
If you’re striving to eat more vegetables and less takeout food, reward yourself by stashing money into a jar each time you eat a healthy meal. When this jar fills up, please take it to your bank and spend it on green incentives.
At times, your reward should go further! Consider taking a trip to your local park, getting a massage, or taking time off work to share it with someone special while reaping additional rewards from eco-journeying at once!
Students can be an influential force for change, often leading sustainability initiatives at UW-Madison. At an Earth Fest 2024 event hosted by Chancellor Mnookin at Madison’s campus, honouring students and student organizations for their achievements and leadership was celebrated at an event commemorating this student. Professor and Sustainability Advisor Ann Terlaak noted: “Students have been leading us forward in our sustainability efforts” before attending Earth Fest 2024 along with Director of Sustainability Missy Nergard and Green Fund Manager Ian Aley, who also participated in this event.
Reward Others
This year has been challenging for our planet: climate change is gathering pace, natural disasters are devastating communities around the globe, and greenhouse gas emissions have reached unprecedented levels—yet there have also been significant environmental achievements this year. Despite all this, there have also been notable sustainability victories.
Denver International Airport (DEN) recently inaugurated an ambitious energy performance contract that will help reduce carbon emissions while saving taxpayers money in the long term. By investing in clean, renewable energy solutions, DEN will reach its goal of accommodating 100 million annual passengers by 2032.
Unilever employees took another step towards sustainability when they proposed that Unilever reduce waste by changing its paper tea bag size. This would save EUR47,500 and cut landfill waste by 9.3 tons a year. It is an encouraging reminder that employees can play an integral role in corporate sustainability initiatives.
On a global level, an important milestone was reached when the World Bank became the only international financial institution to include greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in its Global Goals. This historic achievement marks a crucial step towards more climate action worldwide.
Students have also made an impactful contribution. One such student who stands out is Harman Singh, winner of the 2024 Student Sustainability Advisory Council Tree Award, honouring students who have made significant strides towards campus sustainability. Harman has demonstrated outstanding leadership through her efforts on environmental restoration projects as chairperson of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Sustainability Council Student Committee and involvement with Schreyer Pocket Garden and Student Farm Club activities on campus.
UW-Madison stands out among several universities by placing students at the forefront of sustainability efforts. At its first-ever Earth Fest kickoff celebration, students gathered with Missy Nergard, Green Fund manager Ian Aley, and UW’s Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.
Businesses are beginning to recognize this trend and prioritize sustainability more frequently. A recent McKinsey survey link, open_in_new, revealed that organizations prioritising sustainability receive substantial financial benefits, such as reduced costs and enhanced reputation and market share.
Reward Yourself With Healthy Food
Many of us turn to food as an instantaneous feel-good remedy, whether from work stress, meeting fitness goals, or emotional hardship. Unfortunately, however, relying too heavily on food as motivation could quickly become unhealthy, undermining health goals. Dietitian Brooke Delfino warns against overly relying on it as motivation; doing so could sabotage them entirely.
If you find yourself wanting a comfort food treat after experiencing emotional difficulty, opt for something healthier, like chocolate with a higher cacao percentage or apple with cinnamon sprinkled all over, rather than turning to comfort foods that will only provide short-term comfort. Instead, seek professional assistance!
One way to make healthy living more fun is through non-food rewards. For instance, purchasing a new coffee mug or tea cup from an ethically run company would make life more fun! For something relaxing at home, you could treat yourself to luxurious bath bombs or candles that make your time more relaxing!
Turn sustainability into a game by rewarding yourself for more minor green successes. For instance, set yourself challenges like cutting back on showering or turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth to save more water, switching to natural lighting more often, or turning off appliances when not needed. You could even turn sustainability into an enjoyable pastime!
While 2022 was a challenging year for the environment, we can still celebrate significant victories this Earth Month. Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard transformed business sustainability by transferring ownership to a charitable trust, ensuring 100% of Patagonia’s profits were invested in environmental causes. Additionally, record numbers of companies signed on to set science-based climate targets this year; these successes can inspire you as you embark on your eco journey.
Celebrate Your Success
Celebrating your successes when undertaking new green practices or revamping old ones to become sustainable will help keep you on the path towards sustainability. For instance, when making exercise part of your routine, reward yourself every 10 minutes rather than waiting until the significant milestone of finishing an entire workout session to feel accomplished – this way, a sense of achievement will arise throughout the journey rather than simply at its completion.
Many sustainability achievements are helping move our world in the right direction, including:
Strengthening the Endangered Species Act: Under President Biden-Harris’ administration, critical protections removed by Trump administration policies were reinstated – helping wildlife populations recover from climate change and habitat loss threats. This achievement proved immensely important.
Recent research has demonstrated that plants adapt quickly and pass these adaptations on to future generations—this represents a considerable sustainability win that may help us move closer to meeting carbon neutrality goals.
Renewable energy surpasses coal for the first time: This major sustainability victory signifies the world’s shift away from fossil fuels towards cleaner forms of energy generation.
Restoring Rainforests: Human activity threatens the world’s rainforests, titanic carbon sinks that house millions of species and storehouses of immense carbon reserves. This year, we saw success restoring forests in Colombia and Germany through successful legal cases holding governments accountable for deforestation and emissions.
Mondelez took significant strides to tackle inequality with its Cocoa Life program and Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) goals. They made progress toward more sustainable cocoa farming practices worldwide and actively addressed inequality with these goals.
Hold all your grocery lists, to-do lists and class notes in an eco-friendly journal! Constructed of recycled material, it is environmentally conscious and complete with an elastic band and page marker ribbon for effortless organization. Choose your cover colour, foiling or embossing branding options for an enhanced appearance of this eco-friendly notebook.
