Note: This transcript is mostly unedited.
Brandee Nichols 0:04
Hello and welcome to the tea on sustainable living podcast where your hosts, Hannah, and Brandee try and help each other navigate the big messy gray area of giving a shit about the planet, and hopefully helping you along the way.
Hannah 0:16
Each episode we have honest chats about our sustainability fails, sometimes amongst ourselves and sometimes with guests, while also leaving you with a little sprinkle of hope and inspiration to keep on giving a shit.
Brandee Nichols 0:28
So go make yourself a cup of tea, get comfy, and let's dive into the episode.
Hannah 0:33
Hello, Give-A-Shitters. This is Hannah. And this is Brandee. And you are listening to episode number five of the tea on sustainable living podcast.
Brandee Nichols 0:42
And we are coming to you from the past.
Hannah 0:46
But to discuss the new things
Brandee Nichols 0:52
that make no sense every episodes from
Hannah 0:54
no no. No, but we rarely do in the past. We're doing our lovely New Year's episode and you'll be listening in a brand new 2022 with us feels really weird to say 2022 I feel like time if he still feels like 2020 Right?
Brandee Nichols 1:12
Yeah, yeah, I was listening to another podcast. And they were like, Yeah, I'm still processing 2020. And here I am. And an episode about 2022.
Hannah 1:23
Yeah, seems really weird. It seems just really incorrect. Yeah, for sure. But that's how life works. We're doing it anyway. And yeah, so today is our you'll be listening to this in the new year, hopefully full of like all the holiday goodness and ready to, you know, come afresh, to new things. This is terrible. If you see a brand new face right now, and she's like, okay, no, I
Brandee Nichols 1:56
was actually, I was doing the annoying thing where I was thinking about what I was what I wanted to say next, which is a bad thing to do in conversations. But it's the pressure is real when you're recording like, Wait, what am I saying next?
Hannah 2:08
And I never do that, which is why some of what I say sounds really weird.
Brandee Nichols 2:14
But hopefully, hopefully this episode's coming to you. mid January, like we said it would be if you listened to our last episode. And at time of recording, I'm in the process of transferring the website. So hopefully everything will be sorted by the time you listen to this
Hannah 2:30
brand new, amazing podcast manager podcast with website person if you need to do a podcast hire
Brandee Nichols 2:37
her. Thanks for the plug, Hannah. But yeah, I got fed up with the updates in WordPress. And I'm moving to Squarespace. So the transfer is happening in internet space in the invisible world of zeros and ones. I don't know how it works, but it's in progress. So hopefully, it'll all be sorted. It'll look pretty much the same. So hopefully, you're thinking, I don't know what you're talking about. Everything's the same, everything's fine. But if it's not working on it,
Hannah 3:06
yeah, and check it out. We have a little bit information about me and brandy and show notes, and links to some of the stuff we talked about. So if you haven't looked at our website already, go and take a look. Yes, it's just what's the website name, Randy. The T and sustainable living.com. Easy to remember, very easy. So yeah, go check it out. And check out our show notes.
Brandee Nichols 3:31
And yeah, like style, the things we talked about and things we don't talk about. So if you want to learn more about whatever the topic is, and yeah, so New Year, do you didn't Years resolutions?
Hannah 3:41
Um, I? No, not really, I think about it. I've occasionally done things like, right, um, you know, write a letter to yourself, like, what do you want for the year, and then see how it works out at the end? Or I've done the things where I have more of like the word thing, you know, what's the word for your year? You know, is it growth? Is it happen? Is it I don't know. What are the other words people traditionally use, like flourishing? Those that sounded really sarcastic. It wasn't that big. But I've sometimes done that and then promptly forgot my words. So anytime I have set goals, they've not been particularly meaningful, or they haven't had an impact of I can't be like, oh, yeah, and 2017 I was like, I'm gonna do this and I did it. That's just not how it worked for me. What about you? Brandee
Brandee Nichols 4:34
No, I think maybe I've I've done it over the years just because that's the thing that you do. Oh, I like your mug.
Hannah 4:41
Thank you, the Gaudi mug. It looks like stained glass interior.
Brandee Nichols 4:47
People not seen that mug right and you have coffee?
Hannah 4:50
No there is coffee even though it's my turn to talk about the tea. So Brandy is holding the phone as always in also pretty pretty mug.
Brandee Nichols 5:02
Faded Alicante landscape. Oh,
Hannah 5:07
oh, nice because with our Spanish mugs, but yeah, I did research at this time and use it for a project. Would you like to hear more? I would like to hear more. Before we talking about resolutions. Yes. So I just went to black tea, which is the base of most tea blends, other than, you know, green tea or if you have herbal tea, which doesn't really contain tea, so it doesn't contain black tea. Did you choose a specific blend? Brandy?
Brandee Nichols 5:40
All in black tea I have is Earl Grey. oh nine, which is fancy. I never thought about it. Until my boyfriend said yeah, the name is Earl Grey name. Oh, yeah, that is fancy. I'm fancy.
Hannah 5:58
Yeah, so I decided to look up China, because that's where I teach traditionally comes from, it's now grown all over the world. But China is still as far as I understand a big producer of black tea, and other types of tea. And lots of things. Lots of things we have come from China, just a big producer in general. Yep. That's that's for another for another episode, I think. But yeah, so yeah. So actually, I was looking up, I really like urban projects, I guess I really love cities. So and I think a lot of the future sustainability or sustainable living needs to be around cities. That's my personal opinion, because most of the world's population live in cities. And so I had a look. And one of the things that came up was a architectural project, I don't think is unique to China. But one of the things, you know, you see them in other places. The project is called Nanjing vertical forest, my phone has helpfully autocorrected to virtual forests. But it is not in fact, a virtual forest, it is a vertical forest. And it's currently under construction, it's being planned. And so it's basically two tower blocks, which are, you know, I like green buildings. So they're being designed with a forest around. So I'm going to read you a little bit about it. It's called it should have 600 trees, tall trees, 500, medium sized trees, from 23 local species. So using native plants, and then two and a half 1000, cascading plants and shrubs, to cover the rest of the 6000 square meter area. And their aim is to a real vertical forest that will help to regenerate local biodiversity will provide a 25 tons of co2 absorption each year, and will produce about 60 kilos of oxygen per day. I don't really know if those statistics are good, like how much it how much co2 is absorbed, or how much oxygen is produced. But either way, it's better than most buildings.
Brandee Nichols 8:13
So all of these plants and trees are just going to surround like, a tall building, like residential office, and then just hands around it. No,
Hannah 8:23
so it's like in balconies or like the, the trees that like they become part of the exterior of the building.
Brandee Nichols 8:29
But from being on the balconies.
Hannah 8:32
I think so I'm not sure how they've integrated it. So the the idea is like looking at, so I looked at the pictures of their plans, and then where they are now they haven't finished the building. But the idea is like the whole tower will look green, basically completely green,
Brandee Nichols 8:47
Send me what pictures you have and I'll put them in the show notes.
Hannah 8:50
Yeah, and I'll send you a link to the architect who designed it as well. So yeah, I think that's an interesting, you know, I'm not talking about a revolutionary project, I think these it's something that's been looked into before like integrating greenery into buildings, but kind of having that as a standard maybe for new things that are built to try and integrate more, more green life and also it's just a lot more beautiful when you're in an urban space. And you know, there's all sorts of I mean, this isn't that specific project but I think I'll send you a link brand new but there's all these like experiments where they show you like the temperature of like a street like the concrete on the street without a trade that the temperature goes straight underneath a tree, the temperature of the street, like with the grass, the temperature of grass under a tree and like and the difference is that crazy, like me temperature and it's insane
Brandee Nichols 9:48
from living in Spain. Yeah, the the difference of walking in shade in the summer versus not is huge. Yeah. I like the idea of that project. The only thing I think about it's weird. I like I think there should be more trees. And it's nice to look at, like, why through parks all of that. But with all of those, I don't know, trees and plants surrounding the building, does that mean more like bugs and creatures will find their way into your apartment?
Hannah 10:14
It's a good question on a practical level. Yeah, cuz I'm like, Oh, yay, biodiversity. But at the same time, you don't really want like a nest of bees living outside of your, your bedroom window. Right? And then in your apartment, and then in your apartment? You know, I think that is one of those questions. It's like, how do you? How do we build those relationships between humans and animals and the natural world? Because a lot of what we've done right is to avoid that, for various reasons. Like you don't really want yeah, like a nest of bees, or even just like, you know, some bird like you don't want to be, we don't want to share spaces with animals, basically. Or we're not used to sharing space with animals. And a lot of what we've done as humans in creating the spaces we live in, is to create barriers for those animals. In some cases, very necessarily, right? We don't like there's a lot of dangerous animals out there. There's a lot of just unpleasant annoying animals out there. Like how you know like,
Brandee Nichols 11:17
speaking of an annoying animals, my cat will not leave me alone to hear any weird thumping or chewing of cables.
Hannah 11:29
And that's the other thing right? Then we also say we have those animals, that big, long list of animals we want to keep out in our spaces. And then a very small, privileged list of animals that we really want.
Brandee Nichols 11:40
Yeah, that's a great point. And we could definitely go off on a tangent here. And yeah, there's a whole other episode actually. Absolutely.
Hannah 11:49
Yeah, we should definitely do that.
Brandee Nichols 11:53
Can you hear that? You're cute, but it is not play time.
Hannah 12:01
This is a good thing about when I used to go around to right now we're recording over zoom. But before when I go to Bran is flat, and then her cat is like so scared of me that he would leave us alone for the filming. But I guess this is not. He's not scared of brandy. Better at
Brandee Nichols 12:19
pronouncing his name than I am. I can't do the Spanish are. Either my translation class the other day, anyway.
Hannah 12:30
You're pronouncing your cat's name wrong.
Brandee Nichols 12:33
Yep. My fault for naming him a Spanish word that starts with an R and I can't pronounce Oh, hello. What is your resolution for the new year is?
Hannah 12:44
Yeah, Rayas, tell us. What's his what's his resolution?
Brandee Nichols 12:49
Get more treats. Get a bigger serving of what food in the morning?
Hannah 12:55
You know, I feel like he's cute enough. But he'll probably get there. Depends how disciplined you want to be. Well, they're brand new.
Brandee Nichols 13:03
Yeah, it's it's not something that he has much control over. But yeah, I've dabbled in the New Year's resolutions. Yeah, out of I don't know. I guess maybe a sense of like, sense of obligation, but like, oh, everyone else is doing it. I have to have written solutions.
Hannah 13:21
Yeah, it's definitely you know, it's pretty hard to avoid you know, people ask then you know, you've got all the magazines or the blog article everything pops up and then you see the success stories you're like, oh, so and so had this whatever thing year of health and they did this thing or so and so you know, I don't know like it's quite hard to avoid
Brandee Nichols 13:45
but I think it's silly I think I mean, I I guess I understand that it is you know set time and it's like a reminder in your calendar like to I don't know work on something a project you've been putting off whether it's improving your health or finishing any sort of project work or whatever it is. It is that designate a time okay, it's January Okay, what do I want to work on this year? But I find it the January 1 arbitrary you can you know, work on yourself or project at any time of the year and I found some people can even put it off well put off making any sort of change or harasses no chewing on my slipper. Still play time. Apparently. It can. I don't know for me, I guess in the past, I felt like me it was a way to put things off. I don't need to work on this or that whatever it is. Because until yours yet. Yeah. Until interesting. But yeah, just such an arbitrary date, you know, and also make a change start today. Yeah,
Hannah 14:44
I also feel like it's kind of bad timing because at least in my family, I feel like January 1. For most people, it was still pretty much like the holiday season. And so many of people's goals not everyone's but all of the goals were encouraged to take a client have quite like often the goals the beat ourselves up a little bit. It's like, okay, this year, I'm gonna lose like 30 kilos. This year, I'm like, gonna, like get up every day at like 6am. And like, write my novel and like all these things where you're like, a little bit beating yourself up, you're like, if I was a better person, I would be this person that I'm setting the goal for. And it's kind of like slap bang, right in the middle of like, kind of a festive season, my everyone's a bit more relaxed, and like, you're not in your normal routine yet. And then it's like, bam, January 1, you've like, gone and got, like, really drunk on New Year's Eve. And then it's like, in the throes of a hangover, you're like, if I were a better person, yeah,
Brandee Nichols 15:47
Gotta quit drinking. Gotta lose that holidayy weight. Youdon't. And I
Hannah 15:51
remember. Yeah,
Brandee Nichols 15:53
you don't have to, if you want to. Great, but I like what you said earlier, he was before we were recording, about not setting something where it's taking away, but like adding some sort of lose weight, give maybe eat more vegetables focus on the more instead of do less of a bad habit
Hannah 16:11
here. I think as well, I was talking with someone yesterday, and they were talking about also doing things like things that are easy to put off. But like plans you always have, you know, as they like, Okay, this year, I am going to like go away for a weekend. And this year, I'm gonna you know, like things are like additions to your life. Well, which is like what you're saying in terms of like, on like, on multiple levels, they can also be like things that you really want to do like, oh, this year, I really want to like, go to this new place and go hiking
Brandee Nichols 16:41
route, get outside more, that's probably how I would approach that. Because for me, I struggle with just goal setting in general. I like setting intentions directions, because I'm too specific. I feel like I'm setting myself up for failure. Yeah, and there's also, there's also a little bit of like a rebel in me. Gretchen Rubin wrote a book the four tendencies online Tableau, but I have a tendency, I'm a questioner, and but also sometimes a bit of a rebel. So just setting something setting some kind of goal or a rule that I have to do or follow. It's like, just the act of doing that makes me not want to do it. Like, I don't want to do a thing who it's like, Who are you to tell me to do this? Oh, wait, I was the who?
Hannah 17:23
Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. Like, are you a goal setter in general? Like, how would you? I guess you've just said like, not really, right.
Brandee Nichols 17:31
No. Yeah. And, and like said, Yeah, I think January versus an arbitrary time to just start any new habit, goal, resolution, whatever it is. Not a bad thing. But yeah, I just kind of do it throughout the year, if I realize or recognize that there's something I want to change. Like, I've been feeling busy lately. So I know, that once this little busy season is over, I want to prioritize rest. And that's not dependent on
Hannah 17:55
you know, again, I guess it is true. I mean, like you already said before, it's kind of like a reminder, and I think that is true. I think we do get so busy in our day to day lives. A lot of us, I mean, some people are really good at it, but I think a lot of us struggle with, well, I struggle with kind of taking time to reflect, you know, I'm definitely I'd say I'm quite like a thoughtful person. And that's true, but like, on like a long scale, like having a moment to sort of look back on the year and be like, okay, you know, this is what's happened and like, kind of where do I see myself going? And like, what am my values at the moment? Like, what, what's driving me at the moment? So maybe, in a way, like having that inbuilt pause. But yes, it's a very arbitrary day. But how do we build that into our lives if we don't use those sort of like cultural handholds? As a reminder, you know, it's also interesting, I was just like, hearing myself talk. And I noticed it's like, I was saying, like, what's driving you at the moment this like feeling? And maybe this links to sustainability a bit like how that was like a very much like this idea, just through the way I was expressing that this idea that you have to be like moving forward, or like changing or that there's like, some way you're supposed to be going. I mean, that's a very common idea. I don't think he's gonna see wrong I do think we, you know, we have, of course, it's normal to have goals, but like, maybe in some ways is that like a helpful way of framing our lives? You know, to have this drive to be like, Oh, I'm moving towards this thing, or I want to achieve this
Brandee Nichols 19:47
Hello, Give-A-Shitters, Brandee here. I just wanted to quickly interrupt this episode to tell you a little bit more about our show notes. Each episode has a dedicated show notes page on our website, the T on sustainable living.com/show notes where you can find more information about the topic of the episode. In addition to links to any articles and resources mentioned in the episode, we throw in a few more ways for you to keep on giving a shit. From articles and documentaries to books and apps. We want each show notes page to help you feel better equipped with information and tools to take action today, you can think of it as a choose your own adventure. We'll also update you on our chosen actionable item from the episode to let you know how it's going for us. So after this episode, head on over to our show notes page at the T on sustainable living.com Flash show notes. All right now back to the episode I think there's something to be said for you know, having always having some sort of like growth in your life, if you're trying to know how to how to phrase you are enough just existing, not doing anything. But at the same time, I know for me, and I referenced the minimalist a lot. But one of the things they say a lot is that, you know happiness isn't something you kind of achieve or strive for. It's like a byproduct of just living like a meaningful life. And one of the aspects of that, you know, it's your health and relationships, but it's some sort of growth. Yeah. And for me, I feel like I'm, I don't know, I reflect on that, kind of throughout the year, like if there's something I'm struggling with, or want to be better at whether it's learning a skill or prioritizing rest, which is something I'm generally pretty good at. They sit here in the middle of the day, my slippers. I forget where I was going with that. What we're talking about,
Hannah 21:37
like growth is being very part of like, building happiness.
Brandee Nichols 21:42
Yeah, but I think maybe the difference is, yeah, where that drive comes from, if it's an external or internal.
Hannah 21:49
Mm hmm. Yeah. And that comes back to the kind of thing about values and stuff that's really hard, like who you are as a person, like what's in alignment with what you want in your life. And it's kind of like weird, your thing, I think my I was talking with a colleague or a friend, when I was feeling pretty unsatisfied at work. And you know, a lot of stuff was, I wasn't really feeling great. And I definitely I think I'm someone who like, I kind of almost want to explode my life and just recreate it. That's my instinctive response. Not in like a terrible way. I'm not like someone, I'm not going to go crazy. But there's a part of me that's just like, boom, I just want to like, change everything. And that's what's gonna make me happy. And she kind of was saying to me, and you know, I definitely think change can help you and like making changes and sit, but she was also like, you know, in a way you can't, you have to be able to bring your like, ideal day into where you are now. She was like, if you write out your ride, she was like, if you wrote your ideal Monday, like, what would that look like? And how can you bring it into what you're doing now. But you're not just going to be able to like, explode everything. And then like, it's just going to settle into your, like, ideal Monday, you have to, like work towards integrating that into like what you're doing at the moment. Which, you know, I think isn't like NASA. I mean, I think it's good advice. And I agree with a lot of it. But of course, I'm not completely down there like whole, you know, I think there's that movement towards like, you control your thoughts. So you can think yourself, like this way or that way. Like it's how you think about a situation that like impacts what it is to you. I think there's some of that which, which is helpful. But I think also, you know, what, external circumstances do have a big impact? You know, in certain situations, there is a limit on, you know, you can't just think your way out of certain situations. Anyway, that's kind of like going off a little bit on a tangent, but I guess Yeah, it's like coming back to like, making values that like making goals or intentions that aren't crazy far from where you are now. Maybe all I think, I don't know, like, helped me out brandy. What am I trying to say?
Brandee Nichols 24:07
Well, I think the important thing before people get caught up in the doing or the changing whatever it is, is to do the pausing and reflecting the resting and I know my cat is trying to eat my Christmas tree.
Hannah 24:23
Day to move and I think
Brandee Nichols 24:25
he did. He's done curious mode. He's not an actual like, I want to eat
Hannah 24:31
his pausing and reflecting. There we go before doing
Brandee Nichols 24:35
something that I want to do right now.
Hannah 24:42
Does this look tasty to me? Is this aligned with my values like the cows don't eat the flowers? No. Go Brandee. You
Brandee Nichols 24:51
gotta be Yeah, that being said with you know, I've been going on about I don't like you know, the arbitrary, arbitrary Ness. Have New Year's resolutions and just the one. And yeah, my struggle with goals in general. But I do. I mean, it's because of a why we started the podcast to try to create a bit more accountability and making sustainability related changes, just doing better in general doing what is in my control? I guess you could say, that's a intention for 2022. So just, you know, yeah, think about what, what can I be doing more of? Am I doing the best I can? Do I Have you no, headspace and time to do more? And yeah, I think the answer is, yes, small things, which I think we're starting a podcast I sent, I updated the one show notes, the actual date I wrote to Primark to the CEO and to customer service. So yeah, that's a small thing. But it is a step in that drags on and, and it's still 2021. And, like, yeah, starting those changes when I feel like I need or when I feel like I want to make them.
Hannah 26:03
Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, it's an interesting one. Yeah, cuz I guess we've been talking a lot about goals in general, and not really talking about, like, how we think that to sustainability?
Brandee Nichols 26:17
Well, I mean, just the definition of mean, sustainability is just something that you can do over and over, like a certain, I mean, just read this definition that I already have pulled up the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. And yeah, in terms of, I think, we, when we say sustainability, sometimes we mean that but often, and especially on this podcast, we mean, environmental sustainability, does, yeah, avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. So I think sustainability not in environmental terms is what people struggle with, with setting any new goal resolution habit. Yeah, because people drop off, people sign up for gym memberships, or, and our meal plans, or whatever it is, and then they stop after a few weeks.
Hannah 27:02
Yeah, I think one thing I heard about kind of goal, well, it wasn't nothing about goal settings. But I did this like course. And it was talking about, like, when we want to change things about ourselves or about our lives. So yeah, in terms of goals, settings, and in terms of setting, like affirmations, there was something and I found it really helpful. It was like, she did it, the person hiding learned from talking about it from a mountain wasn't her thing. But I think you can also look at it as like a ladder. And it's like, sometimes we set goals, or affirmations that are really far from what we truly believe, or from what our lives look like. And so in a way, they are unattainable, because they're so far, from how things are now, like they do, it doesn't mean anything to us. You know, like me, I don't know, I'm trying to think of something that feels like completely unattainable. Like, I'm not going to fly in 2022. I mean, that's not a goal I would set, it's just coming to mind. But it just feels completely unattainable. Because I want to go home and visit family and restricted or being like, unrestricted. It's not a good goal. This is like a bad example, but I'm gonna, but you can, you can claim that. Yeah, but like, that's like the top of the mountain. And so like going like several steps down and be like, I'm gonna try and own US public transport within the city I live in. Now that feels like a lot more achievable. And so sometimes we go for these like, crazy, lofty goals, and we don't achieve or we don't reach anything that we want to, because it's just so far away. It doesn't mean anything to our lives as they are. But setting a goal that's like, a little bit above where we are now, or an intention or affirmation, or whatever it is.
Brandee Nichols 28:54
Yeah, I think what you're really talking about is changing your mindset, because it's how you approach it. I'm not gonna fly, it's, I'm gonna focus on these other things more. So,
Hannah 29:01
right, like the, the thing I was, it was, like, of course about like, confidence. So it was a lot of mindset things. So this so it was more around things like being like, you know, instead of setting a thing, which is like, I'm confident in every single situation in my life, like, that doesn't mean anything if I say that about myself. I mean, that's pretty true. But like, like, you know, if you're going from a place of not feeling confident, if you say that about yourself, it doesn't mean anything. So then setting a goal which is like I'm going to be confident in my interactions with friends. That's like a different and that feels reasonable. So that yeah, it was definitely like I'm was kind of using that approach to like goal setting, which I definitely think you can, but I came from, like a mindset.
Brandee Nichols 29:47
Yeah. That's smart approach. Don't always start with this small, specific, specific,
Hannah 29:55
measurable, actionable and time
Brandee Nichols 30:00
What's the R?
Hannah
Constrained or times? Or what's the R?
Brandee Nichols
I'm just guessing. Right now
Hannah
I'm gonna Google
Brandee Nichols
might hear, some keyboard clicks. What does SMART goals mean?
Hannah
stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and anchored within a timeframe.
Brandee Nichols
Okay, what I what I'm seeing here is timely, but I like that. Interesting. Yeah, never use that. Because like, that's, that's too many things that's too many steps. Setting a goal. If I want to do something, I'm either going to do it because it is that important to me, or I'm not going to do it. Because it's not like, I do have like an all or nothing I have it comes to doing things like the life changes I've made, either. If I've been saying I'm going to do something for a while, the reason I haven't done it, because it I haven't prioritize it. It's not important to me. But if it seems like yeah, sudden change your decision, it might seem sudden, but I just know that that. That's what I need to want to do. So I'm going to do I'm going to prioritize it.
Hannah
Yeah. And I think that's a big thing. And I think yeah, I think working out what that those are for ourselves is very important. And I think I would say that's something I'm less perhaps good at. I think you're like you said, I think you're pretty clear about what things are important to you. I don't know if that's fair. Yeah. I mean, I think obviously, I know what's important to me, but I think, yeah, I think that that is kind of like that first step or referring aware of it that this goal, and then you just haven't done anything. So like what's holding you back? Is it something in specific specifically? Or is it like, actually, maybe I want that goal to mean something to me, but it doesn't. So like why am I setting that?
Brandee Nichols
Yeah, why are you setting it? What are you hoping to gain from it? And yeah, so yeah, I like this idea of taking January to pause, rest, reflect, and not focus so much on the day.
Hannah
And you think so this is kind of like so I just said like, Okay, does that mean anything that you? Do you think there are things that we should do, even though they probably aren't like our highest priority, especially if we look at like environmental sustainability, there are probably things in that process that aren't really our ideal way of living,
Brandee Nichols
it gets tricky with the word should in terms of saving the planet before we go over the Yeah, the temperature limit? Yes, collectively, we should if we want to, you know, save the planet. But then on an individual level, who am I to say you should do this, or you should do that. So yeah, I've, you know, the planet would probably say, Yes, you should do things, but
Hannah
and how do you deal with that and yourself? And just trying to
Brandee Nichols
focus on doing what I can and not getting not beating myself up over the little things? My food truck mastic, but it's not a little thing. Seems like a little thing. But yeah, no,
Hannah
I mean, I think it probably is. But yeah, it's a little thing on an individual level on a collective level. Yeah, little thing. Yeah. And that's not hard, you know, that we come back to?
Brandee Nichols
Yeah, but I think so. Yeah. And when it comes to, yeah, the the things that will have the biggest impact on saving our planet, it's not the plastic, there was a book was it project drawdown, when I forget the name, but I'll definitely link it in the show notes. I skimmed it, it's very dense book, but it is it goes through each thing. And I think some of the big things are, you know, the like infrastructure of buildings, and the construction of all of that and, and the environment impact of maintaining those buildings, materials, heating, cooling, all of those things. I think that was one of the top ones. What you eat food waste, and things we've touched on this plastic episode, I think but yeah, when you it's easy to focus on the tangible things that are in front of you that are in your kitchen in your fridge? Because yeah, seems it can mess with a kind of the proportion of of the actual problem. Yeah, I think was yeah, we send that episode that like fishing nets are the biggest problem in terms of plastic in the ocean? Not, you know, your plastic wrap tofu or blueberries, which I would argue are better for the planet then. You know, steak. That Yeah. faggotry but I know Yeah, that was that episode. But I guess
Hannah
like linking to that something I got, which is going on right now in January or will be in the future when you hear this episode is something I began Yuri, which for those of you who don't know, I think it started in the UK. I don't know if it's, I
Brandee Nichols
think so too. I don't think I'd heard of it. But yeah, I think it's a UK based thing.
Hannah
Yeah. And it's got pretty big in the UK. So it's basically In January, it's a challenge to go vegan for a month. I've done it once I did it. And I had like a longish impact, not like a crazy long, but I think I did began URI. And then in my own kitchen, probably for the rest of the like, probably for like six or seven months after in July moved to Spain, actually, I like didn't buy any eggs, I like change to buying like plant based milk, and yogurts and dairy. So actually, it did have some kind of impact longer than the month. But yeah, I guess that's like a way of using that sort of, like new beginnings. And to sort of challenge someone, you know, to try something different? Like, how do you think that fits in with what we've been talking about?
Brandee Nichols
Why like, I like that it's reframing the kind of, you know, say, your New Year's resolution for the whole year, when Yeah, like you said, you're, you might have just gone through a few family gatherings eaten more than you normally do. And feel like you have to make this big pivot, and then have it last for the whole year. Which Yes, attainable, unsustainable, but I like that every frame, you know, just for this month, you're gonna try this thing go all in, see how you feel about it. And then maybe from that, you'll make smaller changes that that you will keep, that you will maintain throughout the year or beyond just the year. And I've done things like that I think I've mentioned before, I've just tried to go on and on something going, you know, I'm not gonna buy any plastic, not really setting a time, but just wanting to go all in on something to see how I feel about it and coming out of that with, with a few small things that I can keep up with. So I like that idea. I'm not going to do it just because it's January, and this specific example already begun. But I do like the idea of it. And that might be more sustainable than saying no, I'm going to go vegan. You know? Yeah, very first. Because I think the impact of that hopefully, people majority people walk away from of just cutting back, even if it's one day a week, the amount of people that do it. That doesn't make impact? I think so. No, I support it. Go back into January if you want to.
Hannah
Yeah, I think I might. We'll see. All right. We'll see if the me then. Is it. Me now?
Brandee Nichols
I don't know. But you don't have to you can have a vegan month here if it doesn't feel right to you. Yeah, that time?
Hannah
Yeah, it's very true. Yeah. Now you can
Brandee Nichols
see, I think the biggest takeaway from this is to, before you do all the doing, do the pausing the reflecting and think about I don't know, what is maybe one, if you feel like you need to change something or want to change something in your life. What is the one thing Why do you want to change it? What do you hope to get from it? And how can you? How can you do that in a sustainable way? Whether it's forming a new habit, small one, or going online, like something like January? To see how you feel about it before you decide, oh, I'm going to go vegan forever? Yeah, just pause it and you don't have to do anything. Yeah, you really, you're enough just by existing. And I think as well, it's like,
Hannah
I think the hard thing about goals is that I'm angry. This goes back to what we've been talking about. They're doing something like general rather than specific. That's actually the opposite of the SMART goals we were talking about. So but but like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it depends on the person. But also there is this like framing that, like, if you achieve your goals, you're a success. And if you don't, you're a failure. And there's like some quite strong emotions around this, like, especially around like New Year's resolutions being like, this is the new me the new like, this is what I'm going to do. And I think that can like also come Yeah, it can create quite like a bad headspace
Brandee Nichols
as well. Yeah, I don't like the pressure to have set goals in general. Like said, I either have things I want to do or things I think I want to do things I actually want to do, or the things that Yeah. That's, that's my goal. That's always set goals. By Yeah. I just don't mind by not setting. Yeah. But I just see, some people need that some people need some people, you know, the internal motivation is enough of saying I want to do more of this thing or that thing. Other people Yeah, need to start a podcast to be more accountable and their sustainability efforts. Or, I don't know people have like, let's be running buddies, or let's, I don't know, try to cook meals together. And that will be enough to Yeah, I don't know, achieve whatever thing you're trying to achieve. Um, well, yeah, I think it all depends. There's no one way to do it. There's no one way to make any changes. You Whether it's yeah, in terms of the your impact on the environment or personal life, whatever it is, you do you but you have to figure out you first.
Hannah
Do you Oh, well, this is kind of getting off into big tangent. But I was like, Do you think the process of setting goals or trying and like, trying different things helps you figure out who you are?
Brandee Nichols
I think it could, like it'll be figure out your Yeah, whether you are someone who needs external motivation to, to achieve something. And maybe that's
Hannah
like a good way to approach it. If you do decide to set goals. Think of it as like an explorer experiment. Experiment. Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say exploratory process, but I like that. Right. So and it's fun. Yeah. Scientists like discovering yourself.
Brandee Nichols
It's the mindset like, yeah, just like, okay.
Hannah
Is this working for me? Like, Oh, it didn't work for me. Like, why is that? It's not because I'm a failure. But there's something about it that just didn't click, like, yeah, what is that thing? So I think from the sound of it, neither of us are really gonna be setting any lofty goals for 2022.
Brandee Nichols
Nope. But I will, I will leave resources for how you can set SMART goals and yeah, whatever goals and Hilda I'll definitely that Gretchen Rubin, because that was very eye opening for me. Okay. Yeah. Do that internal or external motivation for things?
Hannah
Yeah. And like, I guess, like, how, you know, what kind of self reflection works for you. Figuring that stuff out?
Brandee Nichols
And yeah, just removing the pressure of setting a goal or having to do something. But then yeah, at the same time, very kind of
Hannah
that doing is important.
Brandee Nichols
Yeah. My personal and, and if we want to, you know, save this planet. Yeah. But if you operate under, you know, you live your life, just feeling overwhelmed by the pressure, then you're not going to get anywhere. So yeah, there's that gray area.
Hannah
Or you might do a lot and just kind of end up feeling a bit shit about it. Yeah. Or turn down lots of things that you really want to do. Mm hmm. I don't know. An interesting one.
Brandee Nichols
Yeah. Whenever. Not all the answers, guys.
Hannah
Yeah, not at all. But yeah, if you, if you like, if you're gonna set a goal, or you're not, please let us know. Yeah. What you're planning to do? And
Brandee Nichols
for all? Yeah, on Instagram. Yep. But um, the new website? I don't know, I had to send off on the other one. Should have comments enabled. I think maybe I just forgot to enable them on the old one. But yeah, you can comment under each each post For show notes and have chats there or Yeah, on Instagram.
Hannah
Yeah, let us know. That is something
Brandee Nichols
actually I would like to improve on in the new year being more active on our Instagram account. And my, my, all the accounts. Social media is overwhelming.
Hannah
Yeah, we have a little bit of a we've had a bit of a brainstorming sessions. So hopefully in the new year will. Yeah. Let's we'll be a little bit more active on Instagram, you'll see our beautiful faces more often supplant. So yeah, do check it out. Do you want to tell us what our Instagram is Brandy.
Brandee Nichols
It is at the tea on sustainable living. You can also just go to our website, the T on sustainable living.com. Find the social links. Hopefully, if everything is working website wise.
Hannah
Yeah, yeah. If you want to come on that on an episode, like, let us know. That would be really awesome. We'd love to have these conversations with more people.
Brandee Nichols
Absolutely. Yeah. Should be a contact form on the website and social media. All of all the places think the email is linked, and the social media and Instagram account as well. So you can reach us in multiple ways. Yeah.
Hannah
So many ways. Communicate before. But yeah, all right. I although we're not setting goals, and just you know, hope everyone has that 2022 brings you lots of good things in your life and also things you've hoped for and worked for and and is a is a good year for all of us. However we define that whatever way you'd like to define that. So welcome to 2022 Yeah, we're here we are.
Brandee Nichols
Alright guys. See you later.
Hannah
Randy. Bye. Bye.
Brandee Nichols
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the tea on sustainable living podcast.
Hannah
If you made it to the end, we can only assume that you've enjoyed this episode.
Brandee Nichols
please consider sharing this with a friend or family member who could use some support on their sustainability journey.
Hannah
Find us on Instagram at the tea on sustainable living and let us know what you liked about the episode.
Brandee Nichols
Alright, Give-A-Shitters, Tea you later. Get it? Tea you later, as in see you later? So punny.
Hannah
Whyyyy?
Transcribed by https://otter.ai