Sustainable mindset starts with you

There has to be a better way to get Australians and our Aussie businesses to be more environmentally responsible.?

As I'm sure you are all too aware, the oceans are filled with plastic, the climate is heating up and we humans seem to be exploding in population making the whole system reach critical mass. So what do we do - we create more, our ethic is to have more, go bigger, be better (than anyone else). It's exhausting and some of us know that the planet is struggling with this.?

I think there are a few problems in Australia

• Mindset is probably up there with the top issues - expectation is at an all time high and everyone? wants a slice of the pie but no one wants to work for it.
• Education is dwindling in STEM topics (where Australia needs it most)
• We live in a disposable world which is slowly killing us.?
• Our people and our practices have not fallen into the category of "best" yet, but it can change. We have time- just!?

What if we could change the way our next generation thinks by crafting opportunities now that feed the circular economy, less take and make and more reuse and recycle.?

I genuinely think that sustainability needs to be a topic (like maths or english) that is taught in schools. We all left school and worked bloody hard to get where we are, but a lot of the upcoming school leavers are expecting to get the big pay packet, the car, the house and the boat about 25 years too early. Mindset is a big battle here.?

We buy crap we don’t need, we all do it, I do it. Maybe we should rethink that!?

What if we took recycling to the next level? What else can we reuse? Let’s brainstorm?

We have issues with plastic and fishing lines in our oceans. I know we have ways of recycling plastic, the NevHouse project has found an amazing way to reuse plastic waste.

The international garbage solution company makes clean fuel bricks out of all manner of waste. Why isn’t that system embedded in every council, every supermarket??

What if we reused carpet to create insulation it has to be fr rated to begin with…?

What if it was part of our community process to share/ repurpose/ hand down clothes and it be cool!

What if we had garage collection trucks that collected furniture and re homes it with people who needed it. People are lazy and would rather throw it out than give it away. Or they are greedy and sell it at too high a price. Mindset is the issue.?

We have great initiatives like Aspire that we should all know about- but we don’t.?

We have 17 robust and easy to understand sustainable development goals that have been around for years now but does every child, woman and man know about them? No they don’t. Why not, seriously, why not. Teach this, if we are going to have any chance at keeping this planet operating at a functional level this requires attention at a primary school level. Why isn’t sustainability a CORE subject in schools??

We have hundreds of thousands of brilliant minds growing in our schooling system across Australia. Give them the challenge of solving some of the country and planets wicked problems. See what they come up with. It’s time to trust our future leaders and entrust them with the knowledge and our belief that they have what it takes to be part of the solution but it’ll take us as current leaders to pave the way.?

So if you’re not up on sustainability solutions and what you can do in your business to contribute, research, ask questions, find out. Fix your mindset to fix those of the people who look up to you.