In Conversation With No Planet B
No Planet B, a community of sustainably minded people who like us, want to make sustainable living the norm. Not only have are they the curators of the UK's first zero-waste vegan festival, but they also host bespoke workshops (even eco hen-dos) and monthly city events with talks, panels, Q&A's, music and delicious vegan food.
We're privileged enough to be working with them on their most recent event, This Thursday 13th September we will be on the panel alongside others at the forefront of conscious consumerism.
We spoke to the No Planet B team to get to know the founds, their vision and get to know some pretty insane facts about our environment.
1) Tell us about yourself and No Planet B.
Myself (Chris Bush) and Maudie Johnson founded No Planet B February this year, both coming from events and wellness backgrounds. Maudie previously organised UK & EU wide healthy hen parties, consisting of wellness activities and healthy cooking classes for the conscious hens.
I came from more of a corporate background, leading marketing campaigns for Coca-Cola and Amazon, which as you might imagine took a toll on my core values seeing the sheer waste these companies are responsible for.
We came together to create No Planet B. A project aligning with both our personal values and what we hope to see in the world, where sustainable living becomes the social norm, not just a trend. We hope to achieve this by creating an inclusive community online and in person for the conscious generation.
At the same time, No Planet B creates inclusive spaces for the just curious and inviting them to explore and learn more, whilst having fun.
2) What inspired you to start the group?
After becoming more aware of our impact on the environment through the news, social media, and the sheer amount of waste so obviously all around us, we searched for inspiration and solutions online.
We were so inspired by the innovative sustainable projects popping up around the world and wanted to create a place to bring like-minded people together in person to connect and help to grow sustainable living.
It can be hard to really connect with like-minded people in cities and that’s why before our official weekend festival in summer 2019, we have launched monthly nights in Central London, and later this year Brighton and Bristol to show our full-on commitment to creating community hubs and pairing serious environmental action with top tier fun.
3) Why is conscious consumerism so important to you?
We are realists and fully appreciate not everyone is minimalists, living with 31 items of clothing, never purchasing new items and living a 100% zero waste life. People will always want new things, and that's where the importance of conscious consumerism comes into play.
We want to empower and accelerate our community to become more aware of the ways they can make positive decisions, on what to buy and where to look for solutions; whether that be in regards to fashion, beauty, food, gender discrimination or overall health and wellbeing.
Customers are demanding transparency as they become more interested in ethical practices, ‘a minority of millennials believes businesses behave ethically (48% in 2018 vs 65% in 2017, Deloitte Millennial Survey 2018). When we spend our cash, we make a vote, telling companies that we support them. We believe this vote is a powerful tool and we want to help guide our community to continue making positive choices.
4) What do you hope to achieve through your events?
Think TED Talk meets Sofar Sounds, our events consist of vegan food, an ethical market, expert-led talks, panel discussions and incredible live performances.
We want to continue inspiring new ways of living and expand on our attendee’s already existing interest in living an eco-warrior lifestyle! So that we can all start making small choices for a big change!
But the community also needs the voice of Business. Business has the potential to lead positive change at scale. That's why we partner with companies to share their story on the innovative, sustainable plans they are achieving to share with our community of eco-advocates to continue supporting the right brands.
We are also wanting to set a precedent for how festivals can and events should be run with our zero waste impact. A shocking average of 23K tonnes of waste is left over per festival in the UK each year. That's why at our monthly events and festival we are putting the responsibility on our attendees, encouraging them to bring their own food containers, cups and cutlery to leave no trace behind!
5) What's your best tip to live more sustainably day to day?
There are some really simple lifestyle swaps you can get into that include taking your own reusable bags shopping, a reusable water container out with you everywhere along with a hot cup for coffee and of course eating essentials such as your own cutlery.
These sound like small changes, but if everyone implemented them on a daily basis on a global scale, the positive environmental impact would be huge! Significantly helping to eradicate single use virgin plastics going to landfill. Landfills create water and air pollution and are a breeding ground for deadly insects and pests. We need to take action on a global scale and also in our everyday lives to reduce climate change! Just to be clear the term zero waste means nothing going into landfill.
Research now suggests all plastic packaging is only used once! We need to get back to basics and cut out this unnecessary waste.
Limited tickets still available here