HOW TO SET PLANET-POSITIVE INTENTIONS THIS YEAR

Choose from switching your toothbrush to changing your bank account, and everything in between

New Year’s resolutions may be out this year, as we struggle to find focus in uncertain conditions. Though social media timelines are full of people putting aside their usual ‘new year new you’, as life slows down once again, many of us are still reflecting on our intentions for the year ahead.

If there’s one intention we can all have this year that we know will have a real benefit; it’s being kinder to the planet. Sixty per cent of greenhouse gases are created through household consumption. To give us a helping hand, OLIO, the community sharing app has launched a feature guiding users to living a life which is kinder to the planet.

The new section in the app, GOALS, provides practical prompts to living a sustainable lifestyle to combat the 60% of greenhouse gas emissions that are created as a result of consumption in our homes. Each user is given an initial pack of 30 goals, and 5 new goals are released each week, so there’s plenty to choose from and keep us busy. Choose from:

Ordering a food waste caddie to stop waste going to landfill and creating methane, a potent greenhouse gas
Replacing your plastic toothbrush with a bamboo one; every plastic toothbrush ever created still exists in the world
Changing to an eco-friendly savings account, so your money isn’t being used to fund the fossil fuel industry
Making the most of lock-down by watching classics such as “Before the Flood” or reading Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate”

OLIO is best known for its work tackling food waste, but has since developed into a wider community sharing app. It allows users to pass on unwanted items from around the home, from food to furniture and clothes to cookware. OLIO makes it incredibly easy to give away unwanted items to neighbours, with half of all food added to the app requested in under 30 minutes, and half of all household items requested in under four hours.

The app has seen a huge surge of activity in 2020, particularly during COVID, achieving the same amount of growth (items shared) in the first five months of the pandemic as it did in the last five years.

Tessa Clarke, co-founder said: “We developed GOALS in direct response to feedback from our community, who made it clear that they’re looking for guidance and inspiration on how to lead a more sustainable life, beyond sharing via the app, and the New Year is the best time to make these shifts in our behaviour.

“We passionately believe that it was billions of small actions that created the climate crisis in the first place, and so billions of small actions can help reverse it. The aim of GOALS is to take away the hard work by providing a set of simple, fun things to do that collectively will make a massive difference to your carbon footprint.”

As well as inspiring users to achieve their goals, the section also contains recommended ethical suppliers, and further reading on each goal.

Tessa Clarke continued: “The enthusiasm with which people have been embracing OLIO this year is a clear sign that as a society, we want change. The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it so much tragedy, but it has also provided a very clear insight into how much damage we’ve been doing to the planet and our communities. We have the opportunity to rebuild the future we all want – one that is sustainable and equitable, and hopefully GOALS will provide an opportunity for everybody to join the journey and make a difference.”