16 | “There has been a separation between what a farmer produces, what customers expect of their food, and what a chef really wants – that is, something that is both nutritious and tastes good. In conversations in the restaurant and food industry there’s often a focus on one area, such as carbon foot-printing, the health benefits of food, impacts of overfishing, or the importance of insect biodiversity. But it’s all connected and it’s important for us to make those connections. There is a learning curve for everyone.” Nina Matsunaga, Black Bull, Sedbergh, Cumbria “To push things forward, we need more business owners talking to each other, sharing their ideas, and showing each other what they are doing. It’s great to see what other businesses are doing, and you think: ‘That business can do that. If they can do that, we could scale that down and do X, Y and Z instead’. It would be good to share knowledge with businesses in Ulverston, but it also needs to be across Cumbria and nationwide.” Zoe Arnold-Bennett, Shed One Distillery, Ulverston, Cumbria “There are challenges around renewable energy. For instance, it is far easier to find someone that can install or fix a gas boiler than it is someone that can fix or install a heat pump. We’ve been learning as we go along and building our own capacity and skillsets, but it’s not easy as we look at the scale and how we might standardise and decarbonise across our properties.” Ewan Pennington-Frost, Muncaster Castle, Cumbria We are experiencing environmental and societal challenges like never before. Most SME owners know that they need to change the way they do business – and want to do so. But the challenges they face are manifold: knowing where to start; understanding how to create effective positive change; and being able to make changes whilst also ensuring the economic viability of their business. Added to this, there is a balance between complexity and simplicity in the actions that are needed to transform to a more sustainable business landscape. The bigger picture is complex and includes a multitude of areas we need to focus on to turnaround the adverse impact current ways of doing business have had on areas such as soil health and biodiversity, plastic pollution, reliance on fossil fuels, as well as social justice and modern-day slavery. The tendency is to focus on one area at the expense of others. For example, a focus on low-carbon transformations, which has seen a profusion of carbon calculators that businesses can use to measure and gauge their impact, can often lead to only small, incremental, and economically viable changes being made. While a low-carbon approach, such as reducing energy usage or reducing waste, might be a good place to start for many businesses, these changes are not enough on their own to avoid the catastrophic environmental and societal consequences we are now facing. Yet emphasising the need for a complete reimagination of the way we do business can quickly become overwhelming. Envisioning a future sustainable business landscape that moves away from business-as-usual is challenging for many small business owners, especially when combined with the challenges of the current economic landscape. To make matters worse, there is an overwhelming array of information on sustainability, which is often contradictory and always complex when considered within the bigger picture. The term sustainability is also used to mean different things. It is no wonder there is confusion amongst business leaders whose expertise lies in other fields, and who face obstacles in trying to find the best way forward to make their businesses more sustainable. HOW TO PROMOTE CHANGE So far we know that supporting sustainable transitions requires: 1) an effective flow of sustainability-focused knowledge, ideas, skills and expertise Shed One Distillery
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=