🌍 'tings in 2021

Thank you for an awesome year!

Hi There,

I’ve got some explaining to do.

This ‘tings in 2021 wrap-up was supposed to be in your inbox on the 1st of January, according to what I said in the last newsletter edition, but clearly this did not happen. I was thoroughly enjoying the holidays and being somewhat disconnected from technology (emphasis on the somewhat), so I decided to take a few extra days off and release the recap in the first week of January. Well... it clearly didn’t come out in the first week of January either... so what happened?

2022 got off to a bit of a rough start for me with a nasty stomach bug and just as I was recovering, me and my proof-reader’s cat got very sick, which didn’t leave much physical or emotional capacity to write a ‘tings email.

But, luckily, everything is looking better now and with such a long and dreadful week to start the year it can only get better from here on out 🤗

Enough about me, let’s have a look what we achieved with ‘tings in 2021

🌍  9 editions of the ‘tings with impact newsletter were published

📝  Totalling almost 14,000 words

📧  630 emails were sent out

💚  127 people signed up to receive ‘tings in their inbox

👁  The editions of the newsletter were viewed almost 2,300 times

I want to say thank you to everyone who signed up and read the newsletter, to everyone who shared ‘tings with a friend, and an extra big thank you to Ayun who was always there to proof read the newsletter and listen to me talk about ‘tings A LOT. It has been incredibly enjoyable and rewarding writing this newsletter 🤗

Writing about startups doing something to preserve the future of our planet is one thing, but I think that the newsletter itself should also do some good for the environment, or at least limit its impact on it. That’s why I spent some time in December coming up with a framework to calculate the emissions that ‘tings had in 2021. I will continually improve and add to this framework and aim to do a recap every 6 months or so.

The total carbon impact of ‘tings in 2021 was 20kg of CO2e

📝  63% of the emissions are attributed directly to the newsletter itself and include everything from computer/web usage for the research and writing part to the number of emails sent and post views.

🤝  24% of the emissions are attributed to the in-person meetings that I’ve had for and as a result of ‘tings. The calculations include transportation and consumption (e.g. coffee and pastries).

☕️ 13% of the emissions are attributed to the coffee I consume while researching and writing each edition.

🖥  0.04% of the emissions are attributed to video meetings which in comparison to the other categories is minuscule, but for the sake of transparency I thought I’d include it – it also shows how big of a difference online vs. in-person has.

To provide some context, the global average emission for a single 25kg bag of ordinary Portland cement is 24kg CO2e.

In case anyone wants to learn more about how I arrived at these figures please just reach out. I used a variety of sources but the most predominant one used was the book ‘How Bad Are Bananas?’ (2020 edition).

How will this be reduced and offset?

In comparison to cement the emissions of ‘tings is quite low, but that doesn’t mean one should do nothing.

Just offsetting these emissions and forgetting about the impact would be the wrong approach. I think a lot of the carbon accounting and offsetting out there can be used as more of an excuse rather than solution if it is not coupled with an effort to reduce emissions in the first place. An important part of ‘tings in 2022 will therefore be figuring out how to reduce the impact the newsletter has in the first place and then looking to offset.

I already see one area where I can improve. Finding a more environmentally friendly alternative to coffee or improving the sourcing and preparation method to reduce the impact – if anyone has any experience here please let me know 🤗

Unfortunately I cannot reduce the emissions that ‘tings had in 2021 and will look to offset those 20kg. Stay tuned for an upcoming edition of ‘tings to vote on how we offset it.

In case anyone has experience with marine planting, soil sequestration, or carbon storage please reach out – finding options beyond planting trees for such a small scale has proven to be quite difficult.

What can you expect from ‘tings in 2022?

A lot more editions of ‘tings. I’ve really enjoyed ‘tings so far and it has gone relatively well so I don’t see any reason to change the format for now. I hope we can discover many more startups doing something to preserve the future of our planet together and hope to share ‘tings with many more people.

Have a great 2022!

Much love,

Pascal 💚

P.s. ‘tings #10 should hit your inbox on Friday the 21st of January 🌍