It’s 2017 if you hadn’t noticed so a slightly belated Happy New Year to you all from us at 6Heads. This year is our 6th anniversary of coming into being and if there’s a common thread that has run through all the activities and events we have put on around sustainability it’s that we’ve tried to do things in fun, inclusive ways. We’ve also found that committing to events is not always straightforward and with that in mind we’ve decided to make interacting with us as simple as possible this year. Don’t worry, we’ll still be putting on some great events too.

Before I tell you about all of that, I’d like you to cast your mind back to 2016 and our Christmas campaign about using apps for sustainability run in conjunction with If You Want To? Each day, for 12 days, we published a blog post that covered a different topic: energy, transport, food, the circular economy and so on. Within it were links to some excellent apps that can help us to become more sustainable; a great example of technology and creative innovation coming together to benefit the planet. Many of you I’m sure would like to do more in your own day-to-day lives but perhaps you don’t know where to start, where to learn exactly how to go about it. It is in excellent resource, so do delve in.

A few of the 6Heads team were discussing our sustainability commitments for the year, what we would all like to do as individuals in 2017. We collectively have the knowledge (and now the resources too), and we all care about the environment so what’s stopping us from turning thoughts into actions? There are lots of reasons of course. One is that without someone to hold us to account it is easy to give up or simply ‘forget’ what it is we’d committed to. So rather than simply keeping our pledges to ourselves we thought we’d share them with you – and we’d like the wider 6heads community to join in too. Here goes…

Louisa actually had two commitments. Firstly, she wants to stop “othering”. Inspired last year by the RSA’s conscious living network, it means blaming others or circumstances when it comes to making choices rather than yourself. She was reminded how often she outsources responsibility for her own actions because making the sustainable choice was more difficult – for example using plastic cups at work rather than a re-usable one, simply because they are available. She also wants to get more in touch with nature while living and working in London. It’s easy to appreciate the natural world when on holiday by the sea or in beautiful countryside, but what about the daily commute? She is going to make an effort to notice what is going on around her more.

Emma would like to get creative and upcycle this year. If you don’t know, upcycling is the practice of re-purposing or re-using materials or objects by changing them into something else instead of throwing them away.

Paul is going to be more disciplined about sustainable actions he’s undertaken in the past, but that he has allowed to lapse somewhat. Coffee cups being the chief culprit. His experience is similar to Louisa’s in that it’s often easier to take the simple option, which damages the environment.

On a similar theme, Manuela is determined to stop ‘freezing’ about making a commitment to sustainability, which for her in 2017 is all about ethical, sustainable fashion. Rather than fretting about whether to take the plunge or not, she’s determined just get on and do it.

Francesco felt that he’d tried to take on a few too many things last year, diluting the impact of his actions. So this year he is going to just focus on one thing, and see it through, which is to begin to use solar generated electricity for urban farming in the apartment block where he lives.

And finally, Woon is going for a little self-compassion about turning his ideas into action and simply committing to writing one blog a month.

We hope that our personal commitments have inspired you to do something too. If you’re still a little stuck for how to frame your pledges then take a look at the DoNation website. Paul has pledged to get 10 of you to commit to something in the next two months so please help him out! They have lots of simple sustainable pledge ideas and will help keep you honest.

We are planning a few, fun events around the theme of taking small actions in the coming months so do keep an eye out. Finally, we’d love to hear about your commitments too. Leave a comment, send us an email or a tweet!

Love 6heads x