Count Us In: Our commitment to becoming a greener business

We are passionate about protecting the environment and firm believers in the every little helps ethos of the Count Us In campaign

The premise is simple – yet suitably ambitious – if a billion people around the world were to take a few small steps and make them into permanent lifestyle changes, global greenhouse gas emissions could be significantly reduced, according to the Count Us In campaign.

Time Out Fostering is fully onboard with being more accountable for its own environmental impact, as we work to make changes in all of our processes to dramatically reduce the impact our work has on our climate.

Per a recent statistic in Emissions dropped by about 17% on average globally in April, as many countries imposed coronavirus lockdowns that left roads deserted, grounded flights and stopped much industrial activity.

As stated, the impact that one billion people making positive choices to live in a more environmentally friendly fashion is not just an attention grabbing headline, it’s a necessity – given that despite the global emissions drop in April 2020, Experts said at the time that the fact the majority of emissions remained intact showed the need for systemic change to counter the climate crisis“

While we appreciate that individual choices and even those of small businesses can’t solve the climate crisis alone – we are dedicated to doing everything we can as a small business to aid improvement of the world in which we live. The Count Us In Campaign is just a start – the tip of the ice berg if you will; but to stop those icebergs melting away completely the big multinationals and companies involved in fossil fuels and practices that damage our planet hugely, also have to do much much better.

Per an article in the Guardian promoting the Count Us In Campaign, this sentiment is echoed by Joel Lev-Tov, a youth climate activist, who said:

“[I find it] absolutely disgusting. It’s blaming the consumers for their choices instead of the fossil fuel companies and big business who are emitting more CO2 than I could ever emit in my lifetime in a few hours. While I appreciate the intention behind their campaign … individual change won’t help us solve the climate crisis”

Joel Lev-Tov, Youth Climate Activist

So how are Time Out starting out on our Green journey?

Buying refurbished equipment for our staff rather than buying new – including phones and laptops

Switching to a green energy provider – We have switched to Haven Power – our chosen green energy business supplier.

Moving all staff pensions to NEST – An ethical pension provider that doesn’t invest in fossil fuels

Cutting down on in person visits and travelling – Utilising zoom meetings for virtual visits and communication

Buying all stationary from a green supplier – Ensuring items are sustainable, recycled and recyclable

Using Terracycle – For our difficult to recycle office waste and used equipment. Terracycle is an innovative recycling company that has become a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle materials.

What’s next in our commitment to the environment

We are committed to doing more – looking into how we can get involved with re-wilding schemes in future / pledging to plant trees each time we place a child with a new foster family.

Watch this space – Time Out’s passion for placing the wellbeing of our environment at the heart of everything we do is just getting started!

Thanks for reading!