Our 10:10 initiative

Everyone at Adessi has embraced a decision taken earlier this year to register for the 10:10 environmental initiative with amazing enthusiasm and some great activities. We have started recycling more, reduced our energy consumption significantly, and numerous members of staff, and even I (the oldest, unfittest member of the entire company) have abandoned vehicles at least once a week to use a bike to get around instead.

The enthusiasm and positive activity is now being summarised in a new blog http://adessi1010.blogspot.com/ where every week we will share with the world our deliberate and sometimes amateurish attempts to do something good for the environment and reduce our carbon footprint.

Obviously looking to inspire from this blog, we were hoping to get some good comments or at least support from others in the blogging community and those who see initiatives like 10:10 as a positive step. However, almost immediately, we have come under fire from an alternative blog (Barkingside 21), who state that perhaps we should be buying fruit rather than recycling crisp packets!!!!

Let me offer an extremely personal view....

One of the reasons I think many people don't go the extra mile to save energy, reduce their carbon footprint or recycle effectively is because there are so many pious people out there, looking down their noses at you, and making your efforts look futile or irrelevant.

Barkingside 21 is clearly written by more educated and engaged environmentalists. It has the higher ground in many ways, and frequently draws attention to better ways of sustainable living. However, do they really need to slag us off, and suggest that our efforts are worthless!!

I just want to thank those good people at Barkingside 21, whose blog I won't be promoting again in the future, for putting the boot in, and being completely negative about a company who are trying to do something. Barkingside21 may well be an environmental community. For me, they are Idiots......

I want to applaud anyone who recycles, (cycles to work rather than drives), works to cut their carbon footprint and generally wants to contribute to a better more sustainable environment. Even if you get it wrong sometimes, I would not criticise you for your efforts.