Earth Week at dxw
Thanks to everyone for making it an inspiring, educational, and hopeful week
As it was Earth Day last Thursday 22 April, we committed a whole week to talking and learning about how we can care for our earth. We’ve blogged before about some of the climate work we’re doing as an organisation, and this time we focussed on what we can all do as individuals. There was lots of activity from a talk by Greenpeace to a screening of 2040, a documentary that looks at the possibility of reversing global warming.
We also had a theme for each day where we asked staff to share practical tips and resources on what we can do to help save the planet. Here’s a roundup of some of the things that were shared.
Day 1 – food
We started the week with a talk from Greenpeace about supermarkets not doing enough to reduce their use of plastics.
We had a food themed competition for people to share tips, recipes, and resources on anything food related to cut down on waste. Cat, one of our Account Managers, shared how she used up veg that was past its best by making a frittata.
Morrighan, our Associate Service Designer, talked about her experience of going plastic free for a month and how eye opening it was. She talked about how it helped her to find independent businesses who offered plastic-free alternatives.
Day 2 – nature
Our Finance Director, Jayne, shared her experiences of growing her own food and described it as a fun adventure where self-agency, nature, and sustainability meet.
Lorna, one of our Junior Developers, shared a link to the Buzz Club which asks for volunteers to do experiments at home to collect essential data needed to help better understand our pollinators.
A few of us also got to find out which garden bird we are. dxw is full of blackbirds and there’s also chaffinches, robins, and wood pigeons.
Day 3 – make do and mend
Lots of the team shared ways of mending and refurbishing instead of replacing things.
John, our Head of Research, showed us an upcycled desk that he’s been using from an old office he used to work in as well as a vertical food patch on an old picnic table.
Imran, one of our new User Researchers, told us about how a new bag he had bought caught fire but he’s managed to embrace the burn and still uses it to this day.
We also discovered a place in London that saves furniture from landfill called Bright Sparks.
Day 4 – travel and transport
We polled staff about the main reasons why people don’t consider taking other forms of transport for holidays apart from flights. For some of us, flights are often cheaper so cost is an issue. People also felt that other forms of transport are slower which means using more annual leave. Some dxw people then shared their stories of holidays where they haven’t used flights.
Cat told us about a charity hitchhike that she did from England to Morocco involving travel by bus, train, and even a donkey.
Morrighan also talked about her slow travel from Bangkok to Laos which took 2 days by boat instead of a 40 minute flight. She said travelling this way was a holiday and an experience in itself.
One of our clients, the Government Digital Service (GDS), recently did a podcast about the role of product teams in greening delivery.
Day 5 – positive stories
The last day of our Earth Week was focused on sharing more positive stories about changes we can all make followed by a screening of the 2040 documentary.
We discussed ways that we can make our pet care more sustainable. Things like feeding your pets chicken and rabbit as those meats are less environmentally destructive and using wood shavings or walnut shells for cat litter all make a difference. The Wildlife Trusts have shared more tips for being an eco-friendly pet owner.
The engagement from people at dxw was fantastic. Thanks to everyone for making it an inspiring, educational, and hopeful week.
