The Sustainability & Responsibility Triathlon

Are you also fed up by the inertia of our governments in dealing with climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Are you a reputed academic or another influential person that can lead by example? Then consider to join the Sustainability & Responsibility Triathlon movement and talk about what you do. If you are a business school scholar than you may combine your message with RRBM (Responsible Research in Business and Management).

The original version conceived in Europe is to restrain for one year (at least) to:

1. Own a car;
2. Eat meat;
3. Flying.

These three activities are the main causes for the individual carbon footprint of the global elites (and also of the middle classes). Global warming, due to desertification, is one of the main causes of food insecurity and may even contribute to armed conflicts, like in Syria. The livestock industry is one of the main causes of land grabbing (aimed at producing feed for farm animals, like soy in South Amerika) and the reduction of biodiversity (due to the reduction of wilderness). You may still take taxis, use car sharing, travel by train, and eat cheese and eggs. If you want to go the last mile you could decide not to use taxis, car sharing, live vegan, or travel by bike (#sabbicycle), but this is not necessary.

If you do not live in Europe, where train travel is well developed, you may find other ways of complying with requirement 3 (not flying). You may halve your flights, not use business class (which has a much higher foot print) and go vegan (that adds another 20% in comparison to vegetarian and is, nowadays, practically, if not socially, easy to do). Or you may follow the example of Park Wilde, who travelled the US by train.

Believe me, this will be another step in feeling less hopeless and more engaged, like riding a bike and feeling the wind in your hair.