Over the last few years, many articles have been written on the importance of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) principles and incorporating them into the investment decision making processes. At the same time, I have also seen a significant change in mine and my family’s principles in our daily lives and our contribution to society in what I guess you could call ‘ESG at Home’.
I have to say that my children have actually been the major driver of this change to our daily lives over the last few years. They are the ones pushing the change for us to contribute significantly to the sustainability of our planet and we have subsequently made a total lifestyle shift. We now have ‘triple R’ imprinted in our minds: ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. Here are just a few of the things that, through learning and initiatives provided by their school, we have implemented and changed in the way we do things in our home:
- Eco bricks: plastic 2L bottles filled with plastic waste which we can’t recycle. When these bottles are filled and weigh 500 grams or more, they are used to build all sorts of things, including walls for housing. You would be blown away at how much plastic waste can be squeezed into a 2L bottle;
- Compost worm farm: worms kept in a farm bin are used to recycle food waste and other organic material into a valuable worm compost that we then use for our vegetable garden;
- Probiotic bokashi bin: similar to the compost worm farm, bokashi composting is a fermentation method but allows for a lot more food waste compared to the worm farm, for example meat and cooked food. The waste is added to airtight bins, layered with "Earth Bokashi" and the bin closed, this then starts a fermentation process and again we use the compost for our vegetable garden;
- Recycling: This is a familiar term, but you will be amazed at how many households still do not recycle. We have 4 separate bins, one for glass, one for paper and cardboard, one for plastic that can be recycled and one for plastic that can’t - this is used in the eco bricks.
- Vegetable garden: Growing our own vegetables using the compost made from the kitchen waste. Apart from the cost savings, there is no comparison when it comes to the taste of fresh vegetables versus those purchased from the grocery store.
I have specifically noticed the impact of our waste where we have gone from filling two wheelie bins a week with waste to only half of one bin. Combine that with the impact of contributing building material to charities in the form of eco bricks, recycling and growing our own vegetables and I can certainly say that it has been an extremely satisfying transformation.
Our children are shaping the future and their actions will continue to indirectly push the investment industry into change. Investment professionals having children transform their lifestyles like mine have, will push them to adopt the same mindset at their workplace and in their investment decision making processes. When teaching our children about finances we are now also able to talk about the big picture and the impact of investing for the future and installing this passion in children as early as possible. I believe that in order to successfully implement and embed ESG into our industry we should also be leading by example in our daily lives and societies by applying ‘ESG at Home’.