Net Zero Isle of Man and UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man partner with Gef's 30 Under 30 2024
We speak with Jacqui Keenan of UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man and Jade Foster of Net Zero Isle of Man about their partnership with Gef's 2024 30 Under 30 Sustainability Category, and how they're working with some of the Category Winners, including Hansard's Sustainability Officer Emma Sayle, on projects to help our local community.
Transcript
00:00I'm Jade Foster, I'm the Engagement Manager at the Climate Change Transformation Team,
00:04also known as Net Zero, Isle of Man.
00:06I think in sustainability, often you can feel alone in it, so connecting with other people
00:10is really important.
00:11You find those people that you can have conversations with, that can inspire you, and you can learn
00:16from what they're doing.
00:17As a collective we feel a lot more inspired and we can make a bigger difference together.
00:22I'm Jackie Keenan, I'm UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man Coordinator.
00:26And I'm Emma Sayle, and I'm a Sustainability Officer at Hansard and 30 Under 30 winner.
00:30The UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man tagline is Working Together for a Sustainable Future,
00:35so it's all about collaboration, but it's also about sustainability, not just looking
00:39at nature, but also the economy and people and how we can all work together to make sustainability
00:45and a sustainable future happen for everybody.
00:47So it makes total sense for us to partner with Geoff at 30 Under 30 on sustainability.
00:52Emma joined Biosphere on a student placement, didn't you?
00:56And part of that was to create the Sustainability Toolkit, and you've recently done a refresh
01:01of the toolkit, so very much still involved with Biosphere.
01:04Yeah, so the toolkit's aimed at small businesses on the island that want to adopt more sustainable
01:09practices but don't have a dedicated Sustainability Officer role or don't have the knowledge in
01:14house or the resource to reach out to a contractor to come in.
01:18So there's loads of ideas in there about what sustainability is, what sustainability within
01:22business means, how to create a sustainability strategy, how it plays a part in culture,
01:27how it can benefit your organisation as a whole, and with the refresh, it's focusing
01:32less on business but organisations in general, so charities, community initiatives, rather
01:37than just small businesses.
01:39And you created some nice little checklists in there as well, so organisations from different
01:42sectors can go through and see, OK, this is what I need to do next, and it's quite a handy
01:47little reference guide for them.
01:49So alongside the Sustainable Man Toolkit that Emma's created, we've also got the Sustainable
01:52Man Workshops, which one of the other 30 Under 30 Sustainability winners is running this
01:57year.
01:58Sarah Mercer and Matthew at Earthscope are running our Sustainable Man Workshops in the
02:01autumn.
02:02They are seven weeks of workshops for businesses to come and learn more about sustainability,
02:06lots of different aspects of it and how you can integrate sustainability more into your
02:11business.
02:12I've done a few bits with Biosphere since finishing my placement, and it's just great
02:15to continue that partnership with you guys, because you're...
02:19I love you guys!
02:20We love you!
02:21I know, yeah.