Sustainability – what difference can one person make?

I am often asked if there was a trigger that led me to begin promoting environmental sustainability in the veterinary sector. I joined the Green Group at my practice, Davies Veterinary Specialists, in 2017 and have been vocal about the environment ever since.

Actually no one thing stands out. My youngest child had started school and I’d passed my Diploma – so I had more spare time – and around then, the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published, which made me wonder whether I could do anything more.

In the end, it was a culmination of factors that altered my behaviour. And when it comes to sustainability, I have found that the same is true: a build-up of smaller changes is the most effective way for us to start to make a difference, and can have some surprising results.

Start small and build up

Two practices at Linnaeus – Davies and North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR) – have Green Level Investors in the Environment (iiE) accreditation, the highest level that a workplace can earn. What’s noticeable with both sites is that they haven’t ordered major refits or convinced everyone to cycle to work; instead, they introduced a systematic range of modifications to their day-to-day operations.

For example, Davies and NDSR have reduced their electricity use by switching off more lights, air-conditioning, gas scavenging and IT equipment when not in use. They bought reusable equipment, and initiated recycling schemes and food waste collections to cut the amount of waste being thrown away. They created bug hotels and wildflower meadows. Quick wins, and communicating those successes, builds momentum for all other areas.

At Linnaeus, this is also the case but on a larger scale. We eliminated the use of nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic gas across the group because it is also a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting agent, which many Associates just didn’t know about. While some sites hadn’t used nitrous oxide for many years, others needed support from our Linnaeus anaesthesia specialists to make that change. This was a small action for each practice – but collectively it has reduced Linnaeus’s carbon footprint by 129 tonnes per year. This is the power of a ‘group’ vision for sustainable practice.

Bring others on the journey

As an anaesthetist, analysing data and making quick decisions are part of my job. But to engage people about sustainability has been a learning curve – while much of my previous work was reactive, sustainability required strategic, preventative action. We are in it for the long run.

Initially I thought that presenting data would make it obvious that people had to change their behaviours and practices, and fix the issue quickly; how wrong I was! I’ve understood that people adapt to change in different ways and listening to their concerns is crucial. If someone tells you no, then you should listen to their concerns, and consider how you can reframe the opportunities or redirect the solution.

I have also learnt that positioning a problem as an opportunity helps to drive change. The climate crisis can make people feel powerless and provoke eco-anxiety, but there are many benefits to sustainability that bring joy and success. Creating a wildflower garden at your practice isn’t just a great environment for wildlife – it is somewhere for colleagues and even clients to decompress too. You can only earn an iiE accreditation by making your workplace more environmentally sustainable, but we have seen at Linnaeus that it also brings a sense of pride and purpose.

Join the community

If you question whether one person can make a difference, then consider how your actions can create a ripple effect. I work with around 200 colleagues at Davies and realised that any changes implemented there make a significantly bigger impact than just doing it at home. Joining the Davies Green Group also connected me to like-minded colleagues with various skills that helped us to make adjustments at the practice.

Raising your voice with decision makers can create a much larger ripple effect. When the chief executive of Linnaeus visited Davies a couple of years ago, I asked him directly about the environmental impact of the group. In response, he asked me to devise and implement a sustainability strategy for the business, which is now supporting a much wider community of colleagues across the UK. Within the team of 5,000 Associates across Linnaeus, I have found support, laughter, challenges, ideas and motivation – it is this team who drive my work now.

There are also many organisations getting involved across the veterinary sector, for example my colleague Zoë Halfacree volunteers with the fantastic Vet Sustain group. Choose how you want to spend your time, and find a community that shares your values.

Perfect is the enemy of good – everyone can make an impact

We cannot continue with past models of practice, and will constantly need to make adaptations to the way we work. Many changes will feel uncomfortable and take some effort to adopt – I’m certainly not immune to that problem either! But we have reached the point where we need everyone to play their part today, in creating the world we want to live in tomorrow.

Luckily, in our industry there are a lot of changes we can make that are achievable and effective. So get talking, build up the momentum and remember that even minor actions can make a big difference. 

Read more about the sustainability work Ellie leads at Linnaeus on their website.