New to SPVS-VMG Congress, SPVS hosted the first environmental sustainability in practice full day stream. Far from being a depressing review of the state of the planet and the profession’s contribution to this, it proved to be a fascinating and empowering day, ending with a fast-paced, lively discussion session.
Ellie West, who led Davies Veterinary Specialists (DVS) to the highest Investors of the Environment (iiE) Green award, chaired the well-attended day alongside a team of experienced sustainability professionals and advisors.
April Sotomayor from iiE gave an eloquent, comprehensive and moving review of why sustainability is important and relevant to the veterinary profession. She updated delegates on the legal and business case for sustainability, as well as our moral obligation to do more to mitigate our environmental impacts.
Sustainable workplaces
Clare Topping from Northampton General Hospital gave us an entertaining whizz through of her journey to make her workplace more sustainable. The barriers were often people based with established habits hard to change alongside suspicion that eco-friendly methods might be less hygienic or be a threat to patient care.
Undaunted, Ms Topping, with her quiet determination and dry sense of humour, showed how she was able
to dig out evidence, initiate research and coax change in even the most reluctant within her team. Her talk illustrated how anyone introducing sustainability measures into a practice needs to be aware of how individuals respond to change.
Throughout the talk, Ms Topping demonstrated the considerable cost savings that have resulted from her work. That alone was a convincing reason to adopt sustainability policies. Impressive work and a challenge to match for the veterinary profession. It led me to think we should put this aspect of the sustainability agenda directly into the finance streams we run in future. I left with a question to ask accountants: should the costs and gains from sustainability actions be included in business accounts? Watch this space for updates on that.
Finite resources
Anne Woolridge from Independent Safety Services is a waste specialist, and Anne skilfully made what could have been a dry topic into an interesting and engaging one. She gave a brief outline of the legal aspects of waste and the reasons for waste categorisation. With some interesting facts and examples, she spoke about the stark fact that we use too many finite global resources and then discard most.
Waste streams are overwhelmed, and, as individuals as well as businesses, we need to take greater responsibility for what resources we use and how, and what we channel into waste exits. The waste hierarchy of “reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, recover, dispose” is highly relevant.
We’re all aware of the plastic pollution problem, but the waste issues are more far reaching than that. There’s a job to do in the profession about waste, and no better time than now to address it.
Benefits of sustainability
Miss West then took us on a charismatic whistle-stop tour of how she got sustainability on to the DVS agenda and the successes that have come with that work. Cost savings, morale and well-being boosts, improved staff recruitment, and positive publicity are just a few benefits.
Rounding off the day, Miss West chaired an enjoyable discussion, which ended with heartfelt applause for all the speakers for their inspiring talks and leadership in the sustainability field.
I can proudly announce that SPVS as an organisation has signed up to go on the iiE sustainability journey and audit as has the SPVS-VMG events company. Will 2020 be the year when you follow suit?
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