How To Have A Successful Career and Not Destroy the Planet (including Studio Tour)

I want to show people how they can make more sustainable choices in their work-from-home offices and studios.

I truly do believe there are very few jobs (apart from, say… hello, fossil fuel industries) that can’t be made more sustainable.

There are plenty of ways we can all choose to tread more lightly on the planet. If you work from a home office or studio, here are a few easy-to-implement strategies to reduce your carbon footprint and be more environmentally sustainable whilst still having a successful career.

There’s really no need to destroy the planet for the sake of rewarding work.

1. Buy second hand
   • Since the greatest environmental impact of anything you buy will likely come from its manufacturing and distribution before it gets to you, buying second hand will always be the most environmentally sustainable option of any purchase you make.
   • Check the returns policy if you’re worried about buying a dud.
   • Buying refurbished usually provides the same guarantee or warranty on goods as buying them new.
2. If there’s no choice but to buy new, choose software over hardware 
   • This applies mostly to composers and sound designers.
   • When buying new sound-creating equipment, software will be less environmentally damaging due in part to the mining of virgin (not recycled) rare earth elements in the manufacturing of hardware electronics. 
3. Green your Utilities
   • Where does your power come from? Switch a more ‘green’ provider.
   • Look at sites like Ethical Consumer for comparisons.
   • Does your utility provider actively support and/or build new solar or wind capacity?
4. Commute Better
   • Do you travel at all for business? In pre-covid times, choosing public transport over your car was usually a no brainer.
   • Now we’re more cautious, there are still ways to choose a more sustainable way to travel.
   • Go off-peak to avoid busy environments.
   • Ride share with the windows open.
   • Travel by bicycle.
   • Walk.
   • Be honest – do you really need to be there in person? A phone or video call is often a viable option. 
5. Make a Vegan Pack Lunch
   • No brainer. Less waste and a lower carbon footprint through the whole manufacturing and delivery chain. Plus vastly reduced cruelty. Win-win.
6. Reuse, Repair, Resell, Recycle
   • Dispose of your unwanted business stuff thoughtfully.
   • Ask yourself first: can you repurpose the item elsewhere?
   • If it’s broken or faulty, can you get it repaired rather than buying new?
   • When you’re upgrading your equipment, sell or give away the old, still-functioning stuff – look to Ebay, Craigslist, Gumtree, Freecycle, Freegle, Trash Nothing, Olio or a Facebook Local Marketplace for your area.
   • Your very last port of call is recycling – either through your local council-run schemes or with Terracycle.
   • The Terracycle site lists places near you that are participating in their schemes for recycling unusual or tricky items like mixed materials.
   • If there’s no Terracycle drop-off or free scheme nearby, you can buy your own recycling box from them – I’ve had several office and all-in-one boxes from them before. Beware, they’re expensive – but the way I see it is that if you can afford it (be honest) it’s the right thing to do. If you can’t then…
7. Accept what you can’t change
   • Accept that the place where you live, the society in which you exist, your financial situation and the systems that surround you may not allow you to do some or any of these things. If that’s the case then it’s time to turn to…
8. Find The Time for a Little Political Activism
   • Call or write to your government representative, MP, councillor to ask them to change their policies, and to support sustainable polices.
   • Write to businesses you patronise (or would like to, if they just had a decent level of environmental accountability) to ask them to provide recycling for their products.
   • It’s also nice to write to other businesses or even your MP to tell them what they’re doing that’s good!
   • Yes, yes, you’re a busy business person, I get it, no time for this sort of thing. Well, I say – make time. Book in half an hour once a week to write one email or make one phone call. That’ll be around 50 small but important actions by the end of the year. It’s hard to stay in business whilst all around the world burns, so see this is an investment in one’s future livelihood.

I’m on the fence about carbon offsetting. I’ve yet to see a scheme that doesn’t smell of greenwashing. But you do you.

Over To You

To see how easy all this can be, take 10 minutes today to research or put into action just one of these points. For example:

• Are you in the market for a new bit of kit for the office? Peruse Ebay with the option for ‘Used’ ticked.
• Make a shopping list including vegan sandwich ingredients so you have them ready for your next commute. Schedule sandwich-making the evening before.
• Sign up to Freecycle or your local Facebook swap group.
• Find your local MP’s contact details so that when an issue comes up you can fire off a quick email to make sure they know you want them to vote on the right side of history for any upcoming bills or laws.

In the interest of full disclosure – I’m not an armchair activist, promise. I do try to walk the talk, though I’m not perfect. Here’s my current studio setup:

1. Beyerdynamic DT 990 headphones – secondhand (eBay)
2. My ancient, childhood Korg Concert Piano circa 1995
3. iMac – secondhand (eBay). Onscreen shows Logic X, my composition tool of choice along with many software plugins for effects, instruments and noises – all ‘in-the-box’
4. Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface – refurbished (from Focusrite site store)
5. iPad Mini 5 – secondhand (eBay)
6. Wacom Intuos tablet – refurbished (from Wacom site store)
7. Upper screen is a thirdhand gifted screen; lower screen (to right) is pretty old now – circa 2007. I got it free as part of some business startup funding. 
8. Office chair, secondhand (John’s old chair – it’s so comfy and I was always so jealous of it when it was his!). Also, hiding under the desk, a paleolithic Mac Pro c.2007 that now serves as a backup drive.
9. Parker fountain pen – secondhand (eBay)
10. Ancillary electronics – Macbook Pro (2015) secondhand (eBay), Jaybird X3 bluetooth headphones with microphone (for video calls) – refurbished (eBay), Samsung A21s – refurbished (O2 online store).

I’m not perfect (obvs). The Yamaha audio monitors, the M-Audio Keystation keyboard and the little Subzero Minicontrol midi controller are all brand new, plus a few external backup and sample library SSDs. But my lunch was vegan so, you know, you do the best you can. Swings and roundabouts.

Kermit’s song – the one that say’s it’s not easy being green? He’s wrong! It is easy being green (mostly). You just have to know where to start and you don’t have to be perfect. Good luck out there.

Photo credits

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