Episode Summary: In this episode Leekei, Jenn and Olabanji talk about what they are resolving to do in 2023.

They discussed banking and some of the problems in this industry, mole hills and gardening, Scouts and starting conversations, among many other topics.

For more information on the project and to pre-order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

 Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

 Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can find out more in the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can check the footnotes link 

----- 

Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson, Leekei Tang and Olabanji Stephen

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.  

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.  

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria, he’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

----- 

The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Hi, I'm Ima.

I live in Scotland.

Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.

Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.

Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.

Hey, I'm Rod.

I'm from Peru.

Welcome to Carbon Sessions.

A podcast with carbon conversations for every day with everyone

from everywhere in the world.

In our conversations, we share ideas, perspectives, questions, and things we

can actually do to make a difference.

So don't be shy.

Join our carbon sessions because it's not too late.

Hi, I'm, hello.

I'm.

Hi, I'm Jen, and, and today we're talking about, I mean, since we're,

we're wrapping the year up and Christmas bells are pretty much ringing everywhere.

and we're getting ready for 2023.

. No.

Yeah.

Well, actually this is last week.

That's Friday of a full disclosure.

This is last Friday of November, and this episode will be published either at the

end of the year or beginning of next year.

So yeah, . Yeah.

Okay.

But you know, you know, in my area they.

Putting lights in really some parts.

Oh, yeah.

Here too.

Yeah.

I, I, I've seen shops like putting really nice lights and just letting

you know about, oh, you know, Christmas, Christmas is coming.

. Um, the interesting song would sing when we were younger would be, uh,

and I, and I dunno if I can sing here, but it's basically, Christmas

is coming, mommy buy me a shoe, and.

We, we sang that growing up anyway, you know, so that, that brings me to the,

the conversation that we're having today.

Um, and we're talking about the New Year's resolution, right?

Basically something that we wanna do in 2023 as it pertains to climate change.

It could be something that you wanna do more.

It could be something you wanna do less.

It could be something you wanna start doing.

It could be something that you wanna stop doing as well.

. Um, that's, that's the direction that our conversation is taken today.

And we will be talking about our resolutions and feel free to drop a

message, um, with us and tell us about what your resolutions are as well, um,

using the website in, in the description.

You'd be able to do that.

Just hit record and tell us what your New Year's resolution would.

And your promise to the environment.

Anyway, let's get started.

So who's going first?

, I, I just have a question before, before we start at Hoang.

Why would mommy buy one shoe like this is this burning question when

daddy buy the other one or what

So, so it's just, I don't even know.

That's the funny thing.

I dunno.

It's just something I heard growing up.

I just wondered.

Okay.

I was, I was de I was distracted there for a bit.

I'm, I'm definitely gonna ask my mom and get back to you.

Ok.

, do you wanna go leaky.

Yeah.

Okay.

For next year, what I wanna do, and I've been wanting to do this for a

while, is to take care of my banks.

, like, you know, the banks that has my money, uh, whether it's, um, a deposit

account, investment account, or like check accounts because, um, uh, uh, yeah,

there's me, there's also my, business.

And, um, it's not a lot of money, but it's money and it counts, you know, uh, the.

That, , care of your, the banks that take care of your money is very

important because, um, it's not like, you know, you are investing directly,

um, in some , uh, companies, but what banks do is that they take your money.

and they make investments.

So once your money is, , in the bank, uh, what they do is that okay, you see

that you have a certain amount, uh, in, in your bank account, but actually

this money is invested well, even if it's not an investment account.

So actually, , let's say that you have, um, I don't know, uh, a big

amount of money, uh, in the bank.

So it's like you are doing the investment.

Yourself.

It's no, not that you're doing the investment yourself.

It's like you are giving the power to the bank to make investment on your

behalf because it's your money after all.

Okay, banks, , lend the money to companies, to, , and uh, to

organizations and, um mm-hmm.

and banks, um, what they wanna do is to play safe.

So what they they wanna do is that they want to lend the money to companies that

have a reputable, uh, business model.

And that's not, uh, that business is not cost too much risk.

So something that is quite traditional.

And, um, actually, , fossil fuels company, they require a love investment because,

um, when you have, uh, you dig oil somewhere, you dig a hole to get oil that

requires, um, love investment and it's investment for a very, very long time.

But those kind of investments are quite safe.

For banks, um, because it's a, mm-hmm , it's a business model they are aware

of and they know how it works, so they know that it's not too dangerous.

And so a lot of banks actually, um, invest, , in those kind of companies, um,

you know, companies that support other exploitation of, um, of fossil fuels.

And so that's bother me.

That actually has bothered me for a long, long time.

I, because, uh, I used to work in investment.

And, uh, and, uh, so I should, I should have changed banks for a long, long time.

I used to work in investment banks.

Uh, one of the reason that made me change, , is because, well, I realized

that, they, um, not necessarily, uh, Investing your money in the right thing.

So I decide to quit and change my career path and work elsewhere.

Uh, but that's funny because I, I always tell my students, don't quit,

if you want to change the system, stay in the system.

But working in a bank, it's so massive.

It's so big, like, you know, It's so difficult to change the way

the banks work from the insider.

I decided at that time to to look for another career path.

And so, so I know what banks are doing I know that and I

should have done it much earlier.

And, uh, so I.

Guilty, really guilty, but it's not like I have not done anything.

, I've been researching banks that are better practices because the banks I'm

with right now, um, they are not so good.

Really, really not so good.

So I've been researching better banks and, um, but the problem is I was

looking for the perfect bank and the perfect bank doesn't exist.

That is the thing.

So I, yeah.

Yeah.

So I come to a point that I think, okay, well, um, and actually, you know,

working with the Carbon Almanac project made me realize that, okay, well if

you're looking for the perfect solution, it is like you're not doing anything.

So now mm-hmm.

, um, I've been auditing banks and I was trying to find , better banks.

, the perfect bank.

Bank doesn't exist, so I'll just go and, um, and, and put my money in.

In better banks because, uh, the banks I'm with right now are very, very bad.

And I hate that actually, because it's so much like, you know, kind of work.

I don't like, like administrative work, but I think it's, it's

very important because, um, yeah, because, um, banks have your money

and, uh, they will invest it anyway.

And, um, so you, it's like giving, you are giving them the.

To make investment decisions on your behalf.

So if you don't take care of this, it's like you are a kind of accomplice.

I think so, yeah.

Yeah.

That's really great.

That's amazing.

I mean, I've, I've never thought about like checking out my banks,

so, uh, I, I probably would, would still a bit into some of the

things that you wanna do, as well.

That's, It's as good as supporting when you keep your money there.

One of the reason I didn't do it is also, um, out of convenience because changing

banks is such a hassle and, uh, so again, you know, we're going back to convenience.

Yeah.

We have something here called credit unions.

I don't know if you have such a thing.

Yes.

But it's a little bit better than banks.

as far as what they invest in.

But you still have to be careful.

You still have to investigate.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

So we're, we, we're in a credit union, but, um, but yeah, there's still, there's

still layers and layers and layers to dig into , but it is important.

Yeah.

So this is something I it part of my plan for 2023.

That's, that's, that's a really great one.

That's great.

Jen, do you wanna go next?

Yeah, sure.

My, um, a couple of things on the, the, um, the personal level is,

um, we, I wanna grow more food.

food is so expensive, , and I wanna do, I'm learning to garden better

and I'm learning from different people and I was just given.

Whole box full of seeds that had come from a family member who,

um, who passed away and um, wow.

Who had saved seeds from her garden.

And so I have some of those and some of them are flowers.

Mm-hmm.

, but that's okay for our pollinator friends.

Um, and.

One of the things I wanna also do in which goes along with growing

more food, is we have, uh, we have a little bit of front lawn left.

We took out our back lawn years ago and turned it into, um, uh, wood chips and um,

Pollinator gardens, so perennial gardens for bees and butterflies and, um, and we

plant food in and around that as well.

I've got, I still have kale growing out there, I think.

But in the side garden and the front, the, um, the side garden

I wanna work on a bit more.

And the front, we have this grass that's terrible.

It's mostly weeds.

And right now the moles are having a party because they're little molehills.

It looks ridiculous.

It looks like this piece of green yuck, and then little, little piles

of dirt and rocks and the dog goes out and we actually have to step

around all these little mole hills.

And nobody else has this problem that I can see around us, and I'm

not sure why they picked our yard.

But anyway, I need to figure out what to do about moles and uh,

, they're little creatures, right?

and they go underneath and pop up and when they pop up they make a hill.

And so, um, so anyway, I need to figure that out because I think the grass is not,

nobody wants it , the moles don't want it.

We don't need it . So I'd like to put food in there and trees and bushes

and things that would grow food.

So that's what I'm hoping to work on in 2023.

As far as, um, Doing as much as I can with what we've already got.

Yeah, that sounds amazing.

That is great because you're originating the, um, from the,

the, the soil and also visually

Mm-hmm.

. Cause I can picture the, the, the hills . It's crazy.

. Yeah.

And, and, and that's, that's also assurance for me.

If I show up in the area, they'll, they'll be food

Absolutely.

They'll be food

It's really cool.

I'm actually excited about, like, a lot of this cause and, and I'm, I'm so clear,

really curious to, to know what other people are actually thinking as well.

Um, like, you know, things that you wanna stop doing or

stop doing, or wanna do more.

And I think leaky, we have that, we have that recording, uh, button on,

on the carbon com slash podcast.

And so you can just go ahead and hit recording, tell us what you're doing

and we'll play it in our next episode.

You know, we'll feature you and possibly invite you to,

to come talk about it as well.

So, yes.

Um, have all the fun.

Absolutely.

And tell us what you're not gonna do anymore too.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

, what you're gonna do, what you're not gonna do, what you're gonna do

more, what you're gonna do less.

And it's just really taking a step forward.

So it, it doesn't matter how small it is, we wanna hear it.

And, and we're, we're cheering you on here.

Yeah.

. So I guess it's my turn.

Yeah.

Tell us.

Um, I, I definitely feel like I want to engage more people

in like climate conversations.

I also.

Uh, cause like it's not, I don't think it's spoken enough enough around here

in Africa, you know, even in Nigeria.

And that's for like a number of reasons.

Um, but I wanna be able to engage people that, that, you know, that

can, you know, just basically empower people with information you

need to be able to like, make a.

and people who also have capacity to like, carry on these conversations

to, to, you know, to larger spheres, people with a level of influence.

Yeah.

Um, and I have some of them, like I have a number of them around, um,

even like people that lead industries, people that you know, have really

good seats at at organizations that could, uh, press a few buttons.

you know, influence things on, on a larger scale.

And that's definitely something I think I wanna do more next

year and see how, how that works.

Uh, if you, let me, there's one more , please.

We would like to hear more and, and that's just like buying the carbon

amac for people in in Africa, across Africa and, and just get me to them

and empowering them with the knowledge, starting with Nigeria and perhaps.

In Ghana and in some other parts of Africa and just putting it there,

especially in organizations that have capacity to like teach like schools.

And I know that a lot of like private schools into like teach their kids

stuff like this, especially when, uh, they even have clubs like, uh,

you know, all these food clubs.

Um, you know, this club and that club and just wondering if this is something

I'd also want to like, um, set up a club for, and, and I mean, just curious,

but first off, putting it in your hands so that it's um, it forms the base

for which the conversation can start.

But one thing I'm very certain of is I definitely wanna have

more and more conversations on, on climate change in 2020.

And so that's, that's what, that's what I, I just had a wondering,

are scouts all over the world like scouting, the scouting program?

Because they, they often have, are they, they you have scouts too?

Yeah, we do.

We do.

Yeah.

Cuz, cuz they have to earn badges for things.

I wonder if there's an environmental badge, if there's a way to have

them learn from the carbon almanac.

So then they would all have one.

That's an amazing idea.

It just came to me just now.

Whoa, . And, and perhaps we can even get someone, perhaps a leader in that,

in that sphere of influence to call.

Maybe we can invite someone and hear what they have to say about it and

then how that might be possible.

Cause that's really, really interesting because you were talking

about groups and I'm thinking these are groups that already exist.

Yeah.

And they have to do things with the, with the youth and the children and Yeah.

And right into young adults and, and they, they're, they're institutionalized

to a very, very big level.

So if, if they.

. If they make a call, then it's likely gonna trickle down to, I mean, even

the list, whoa, that's, that's a mine.

We should explore . Yeah,

Probably somebody's thought of it already, but it just came to me

now and I thought, yeah, I mean, we should, we should ask questions.

I don't know anyone directly, but we, I can just go ahead and.

And ask around.

Perhaps we can, we can start off from there.

This is what I like about our conversations, so super insightful,

And as to how you can do it is, um, there's a, actually, there's a lot

of resources on the, on our group firm, , on how to replicate the,

uh, carbon Almanac action in cities.

Uh, there's a.

, , about that.

And there's also a lot of resources.

Wow.

Uh, so if you have time this weekend, as you said, that you will dig into

the, spend more time on the Yeah.

On this course, on the boards.

Yeah.

Um, I, it's worth having a look, and that might give you some inspiration as to how,

, you can do it or what, uh, other people have done in the area and start and,

uh, , and if you're listening to this and you happen to be a scout leader or Noah

Scout troop, um, uh, we have the whole educators guide that's absolutely free.

Mm-hmm.

on the website as well.

And it has lesson plans and they are gauged to every age, and they're amazing.

So you don't have to do anything.

It's all already done for you.

You just have to get a copy of the Almanac and, uh, Download the free Educator Guide.

You don't have to get a copy of all the element, like you can't just get download,

the, uh, educator's guide without getting a copy of the carbon element.

So it's totally free.

Right.

And um, yeah, fantastic.

And you don't have to do anything but.

Also, the way this Educator's Guide has been designed is that if you

are an educator and if you have an activity, you can also build your

own and, um, add it into the guide.

Wow.

So many possibilities.

Yes.

That's amazing.

And, and there's like, there's so many stuff.

There's even photoable if you want that.

Oh yeah.

And it's like, you know, it's, it's just like a ton of stuff.

, if you're in that sphere of influence, please go ahead

and grab, grab the resources.

Yeah.

And, and tell us that you did . , that's right.

Yeah.

And tell us that you did.

Yeah.

I think that, um, your decision or your resolution on having more conversation

is really, really essential because, um, the more we talk about it, um, the more

we'll find, uh, solutions collectively because it's, uh, has so many face.

Climate change has so many facets.

So, and, uh, so a lot of people, everybody needs to be involved

and, um, everybody needs to be, to know the facts, the implication,

the impact, and the possibilities.

And so, yeah, talking about it is very, very important.

Yeah.

And, and something just accord to me, maybe what's even cooler

is find someone to do it with.

So find like an accountability partner.

Who's gonna ask you, Hey, for example, um, ask me who have you spoken with this week?

Or who did you engage?

And I can go ahead and also ask you, you know, how many seeds have you planted?

or literal seeds, or figurative seeds, , you know, or, or

who are you banking with now?

Yes, . Well, we've made this all this statement very publicly, so yeah, our

listeners are, are accountability partners now, . Yeah, that's right.

And, and maybe we can, we can track back sometime in the future to say, Hey, this

is what we've done and, and if you send us what you, what you wanna start doing

or stop doing, you know, what you wanna do less or do more, you know, when you just

hit the link in the, in the description.

If you send us that, maybe send us an email or something.

Probably would.

You on at some point as well to let us know how far you've gone on that.

And it really, really super exciting to, to follow up with you and,

and more updates on that end.

Ooh, so many ideas.

. Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, it's been a super, super, super insightful conversation.

Looking, you look like, you wanna say something , you can't

see her, but we can't . No.

Well, um, no.

You know, I, I have this habit of every day I, I try to be more

intentional in my life and, um, okay.

and, um, every day.

Okay.

I have a couple of things I'm not going to share with you all my secrets, but

like, you know, one thing , but , you know, um, one thing that I, I focus

on is my personal wellbeing and, uh, I exercise and you know, this kind of

stuff, but one thing I do, I used, I mean I'm still doing it, is to, , do

something, uh, accomplish something that.

Me happy, it could be work or, or a conversation, something

that's creates, um, uh, you know, it's a habit that have developed.

And n now what I want to do for 2000, , 23 is to do more in terms

of, um, living more than a bully.

So, um, mm-hmm.

, I.

in the city.

Uh, one of the most, , sustainably living city in the world, which is Paris.

I don't have, um, a alone, you all this kind of things.

So, um, but I think I sh I should and I could do more.

And, uh, One thing I'm going to do is to be more intentional and, , do more of

what I'm doing or like add new habits and, um, because I think what is important is

not like, you know, the big resolution.

Yeah, big resolutions are important, but it's also what you do every

single day that is important.

So that is, um, what I will be doing in 2023.

That's, that's so, that's so great.

That's amazing.

And it reminds me of a book that I.

and I, I was just reading that yesterday, and it says like, you know, break things

down into smaller chunks so that you are happy when you get stuff done.

So there's a difference between going from one to a hundred because if you

do being out of a hundred things, you've done one outta a hundred.

But if you break that down to 10, , and that's, that's like 10

groups of, that's a 10 group of 10.

Mm-hmm.

And if you do one out of 10, that's 10 over a hundred.

And if you get 10 done, that's a hundred over a hundred, it's

still like 10% of the main thing.

But then you get like short bursts of happiness that you got something

done and that, that basically fuels you to do, to do more and keep going.

I'm definitely copying Yuki, and I'm pasting that on me.

. Is that, is that the mi is that the Mini Habits book?

The mini habits?

Uh, no, that'll be, is that the book?

Uh, rework that.

That's rework.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Rework.

And it's, it's just a chapter because there's another book.

Yeah, yeah.

In Rework.

There's another book called Mini Habits that sounds similar, but Yeah.

That's, oh, wow.

M rework.

Okay.

Yeah, I think maybe one day, I don't know, maybe one day I will, you know, um, move

somewhere else and, and be, uh, self, self-sufficient, uh, in terms of, uh, of

food and, uh, be upgrade and all that.

Mm-hmm.

. But in the meantime, I'm still here.

I still live in Paris, so I still need to do better.

So that is my, yeah.

My, um, My pledge for 20, 23 years to is to do a little bit better.

Wow.

Wow.

I, I think we've had a beautiful conversation today and I'm so

super excited about how it went.

And just a reminder, drop us, uh, recording.

We can't wait to hear from you, so find a link in the description or

just go to the org slash podcast and the button is right there.

Just hit record and we'll be on the other side waiting for you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Nikki had so much fun.

Happy New Year.

Yeah.

Happy New Year, . Happy New Year.

You've been listening to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with carbon

conversations for every day.

With everyone from everywhere in the world.

We'd love you to join the Carbon sessions so you too can share your

perspectives from wherever you are.

This is a great way for our community to learn from your ideas and

experiences, connect and take action.

If you want to add your voice to the conversation, go to the carbon

almanac.org/podcast and sign up to be part of a future episode.

This podcast is also part of the Carbon Almanac Network.

For more information to sign up for the emails, to join the movement, and to

order your copy of the Carbon Alman.

Go to the carbon almanac.org.

Be sure to subscribe and join us here again, as together