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My Commitment to the Planet

Emma here! 

Sustainability is the cornerstone of my life, guiding nearly every personal and professional decision. I am dedicated to minimising my environmental impact and collaborating with those who share these values. 

Transparency is vital in this journey;

Therefore, I openly share both my successes and areas for improvement, detailing the steps I’m taking to enhance my sustainable practices. Together, we can create a brighter, greener future.

 

So, lets lay it all out on the table!

 


My Business Impact

As an Ethical Virtual Assistant, I am always looking for ways to reduce my impact with my business. Below are some ways I currently do this.
  • Every client that signs up gets to pick from 4 different charity options that I donate to on their behalf.
  • My domain hosting is with GreenGeeks, The company matches three times the energy their servers consume through renewable sources. Further, they also plant a tree for every hosting account commissioned on their platform.
  • My business (and personal) bank accounts are with Bank Australia which is customer-owned, they purchase land for conservation, and recently partnered with Indigenous Business Australia to help them in helping their First Nations customers purchase their first homes! 
  • My Super is through Australian Ethical so my money is only invested in places that align with my values
  • Everything is done online! Contracts, meetings, note taking etc which means I am a paperless workplace to avoid unnecessary waste. 
  • I make a commitment to cleaning up my digital waste by unsubscribing (and also helping my clients do the same) from unwanted subscription-based emails.
  • My preferred project management tool is Asana – Carbon neutral since Earth Day 2019 and their office kitchens are zero waste.
  • I use my platform online to promote and educate people on ways to be more sustainable and act with current and future generations and the planet in mind


My Personal Impact

  • Any flights I take, I always offset the carbon.
  • Vegan for the planet for over 6 years, & vego for 3 prior to that

  • I do my best to opt for products that are low waste & friendly – natural deodorant, DIY cleaning spray, keep cup, Sunslayer Sunscreen etc.

  • I live a very minimalist life (vanlife will do that to you!) And use only around 50L of water a week, where as living in a home, the average person uses 340l a day!
  • Living in my car means I am off grid, I’m hardly ever connected to a power source that doesn’t come from my car or solar.
  • Opt for the 30 wears rule, if I wont wear it 30 times, I don’t buy it. And only buy from brands whose values align with mine.
  • KickStarters I have been apart of fundraising for: include Sunslayer – reef safe and plastic free sunscreen and ZeroCo – a zero waste cleaning product company that uses ocean plastic to create their containers and work on a refillable system. And they will reuse the pouches used to send out your refills! Scrubba – A portable, compact washing bag!
Areas of improvement I am working on
  • Obviously traveling in my car full time is having a massive impact on my total carbon footprint. As I reach a year of travel, I intend calculate my footprint and offset the total amount.
  • Living in my car also restricts options, I am often in remote areas where shopping low waste is hard and recycling isn’t an option. I hold onto what I can until I can dispose of it correctly but I am always looking for ways to reduce my waste further. 
  • Donating 1% of my income is something I had in place in the past but removed due to various reasons. When I start back up again I intend to donate 0.5% to a climate focused organisation such as Climate force who are repairing the Daintree and the other 0.5% to a social impact organisation who are helping women and girls receive education in developing countries.
 

Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning