Hi Reader,

​

Coalmines weren't deliberately unsafe. Most people did their best with the resources they had available, and we can assume a few owners of mines occasionally cut corners on safety as a way to make a quicker buck, and a few loyal supervisors turned a blind eye.

​

In the 1970's, builders cleared away asbestos from houses without knowing that the exposure could cause cancer. Advertising execs smoked at their desks, whilst they accelerated the use of what we now know to be harmful products (and I'm old enough to remember drinking in pubs where everybody smoked and you'd come home with your coat smelling like an ashtray).

​

Throughout all of this, no one really realised that within just a few decades, people would be looking back at all of this with horror, wondering why any of it was allowed. "Why did no one stop this?", "Why did it take years of the campaigners being treated like fringe weirdos before everyone realised they were right all along?"

​

Yesterday I was out for a walk in the South Downs National Park and a water station had been set up for a trail running event. On the table were a hundred small plastic bottles, waiting for thirsty runners. I started to think about what the 90 year-old me would say to my grandchildren or great-grandchildren about this monumental waste of energy. To create this moment for these runners, we've created plastics, burning up precious fossil fuels in the process, just to create all these tiny, individual, throwaway items. And let's face it, despite the greenwashing bullshit of convenience food and drink companies, we know that most of these will end up being incinerated because councils don't actually recycle properly, or thrown into landfill, or worse. These little bottles have been filled at source, making them heavier and more costly to transport, and then all this effort has gone into burning up more energy to get them to the field where they now sit. We know there are more efficient, greener solutions available. They're probably slightly more expensive or inconvient - most race volunteers don't have a hundred spare reusable cups in their cupboard to lend to the race - but they're possible.

​

And here's the thing. Everyone along that line is doing their best. Some of them may even have noticed the inefficiency and muttered to a colleague about it. But it's not the job of any of those people to change the system, just like the miners, doctors or ad execs from our recent past.

​

And it's a good question to ask.

​

"What are we doing, right now, that we'll look back on in 30 years or 40 years in horror over?".

​

There are obvious examples if you just watch the news. And we've all seen "Don't Look Up". It can often be hard to know how to make change, and yet we must still try.

​

But look closer to home, too. What tasks are you still doing in your work like it's 2006? What's your team or organisation doing that's unnecessary? What potential harm or unethical behaviour are you turning a blind eye to? And is there an idea you could build support for, to create some change?

​

What's happening now that would make you wince, as you explain it to your great-grandchildren, or people of that age?

​

And how can you start a conversation or take the first step towards something better?

​

Have a great week,

​

Graham

​

​