CARING FOR nature’s FUTURE

ENVIRONMENT
STEWARDSHIP
legacy

ENVIRONMENT
STEWARDSHIP
legacy

Small steps toward creating a better future for the Earth and all that live on it.

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micro stewardship

As a lover of nature and wildlife, freelance graphic and website designer Liz England, who works under the title Rutland Online, is committed to providing carbon positive design services. Here she explains the concept of Micro Stewardship, and the steps she is taking personally to help to create a more sustainable future.
 
Over the last few years I’ve become progressively more dismayed by the now very visible effects of climate change. I’m an outdoorsy person living in a rural area and my main hobbies are birdwatching and wildlife photography. My husband Phil and I own a two acre field, and most of our spare time is spent working to turn the field into a mini wildlife haven. Looking after the land is a real eye opener, as the usual British seasons are becoming increasingly bizarre, with plants flowering months early, 21 degree days in February and either too little or too much rain.
 
Because of my hobbies, I spend quite a bit of time on Twitter – if it wasn’t invented for birdwatchers, they have certainly adopted it as their own! It’s evident there’s an uphill struggle to protect our native flora and fauna, already in massive decline with extinction threatening many species. This battle now has multiple combatants, with fierce fighting over who is ‘right’. 
 
My position is clear – I want to help protect and increase our wildlife populations, and encourage others to do their bit towards creating a sustainable future. I call it “Micro Stewardship”.
 
My interpretation of Micro Stewardship is based on the Kaizen principle, defined by Masaaki Imai, founder of the Kaizen Insitute, as follows:
 
“KAIZEN™ means improvement. Moreover, it means continuing improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life. When applied to the workplace KAIZEN™ means continuing improvement involving everyone – managers and workers alike.” 
 
Whilst Kaizen is generally viewed as a business philosophy, I believe it can be a applied very successfully to environmental stewardship. So the definition of Micro Stewardship becomes:
 
“Micro Stewardship™is the individual practice of continuously improving sustainability in how we live and work so that every day we seek to further reduce our negative impact on the natural environment of Planet Earth.” 
 
My own Micro Stewardship™ baby (and bigger) steps have included:
  • Replacing disposable supermarket liquid soap and shower gel  (two in use at any one time) with metal dispensers filled with eco-liquid soap bought in a 5 litre container, which lasts about a year and the container can be reused.
  • Using soap, water and a flannel to wash my face instead of wipes.
  • Having a Sodastream for fizzy water instead of plastic bottles.
  • Buying less stuff and buying second hand rather than new when feasible.
  • Reducing food waste by planning meals carefully and sticking to the shopping list.
  • Researching the provenance of foodstuffs, and buying 75% UK produce.
  • Buying only locally sourced, free range meat and eating vegetarian meals only two days a week.
  • Using 100% renewable energy provider.
  • Using a carbon positive website hosting company – Eco Web Hosting.
  • Planting 75 trees in our field, with more to come.
  • Contributing 3% of annual profit to Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife trust.
  • Checking the environmental and social responsibility claims of suppliers, and whether they are demonstrable or just lip service.
  • Driving an electric car.
  • Encouraging others to look at ways they could reduce their own impact on the natural environment. 
  • Raising awareness of the threats our home planet faces via social media and my blog mywildlife.co.uk

Whilst some of these things are bit more expensive, they are more than balanced out by the others, and all contribute in a small way to reducing my carbon footprint. I recently used an online calculator, and my carbon footprint is approximately 7 tonnes per annum compared to a UK average of 9 tonnes. Combined with the trees we have planted, this means my existence is carbon positive, and I continuously seek ways to reduce my environmental impact further. 

If we all take personal responsibility for practicing Micro Stewardship perhaps we can save the world after all. 
 
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