You might already be aware that it's part of my mission to continue improving my sustainability and environmental impact as I work to help charities and for-purpose organisations with their comms. To keep me on track in continually improving my positive impact, I'm recording the steps I take each month in the blog post below. At the end of each year (April to March), I also do a roundup of that year's impact.

I've had some tech issues (whoops!) with my impact tracker page so the list below tracks April '21 to April 24. For 2024 and beyond, please click here.

Changes between '23-'24 and '24-25

🌲My default search engine Ecosia has stopped showing individual impact... so I won't be able to count this from now on 🙁

🌳 Activities of the Ecologi Climate Committee are currently on pause

🌴 I am currently pausing my Ecologi subscription and will donate extra to Project Seagrass instead

Total impact from April '23 to March '24

• Proudly supporting Project Seagrass ✔️
• Seagrass seeds funded through Project Seagrass donations: 2,251
• Additional donations to other charities: £186
• Days of pro bono support, volunteering and citizen science: 7
• Trees planted via Treeapp: 369
• Ecologi Climate Committee member ✔️
• Trees added to my Ecologi forest this year: 197
• Trees planted via my refoorest extension: 691
• Amount donated to charity via WeWard: £27.50 (5,500 Wards)
• Donated blood: Once
• Petitions signed: 23
• Emails (and tweets!) to my MP: 3
• Mermaids purses uploaded to the Great Eggcase Hunt database: 1
• Beach clean-ups: 1
• Default search engine = Ecosia ✔️
  • Over 26,000 searches to date = roughly 523 trees planted in total (before Ecosia stopped letting you track individual impact)
  • 8,000 of those searches were in '23-24

For the full overview of what I did to give back from April '23 to March '24, please watch this space - blog roundup coming soon.

Impact in... March 2024

🚮 Joined a beach clean up with Sea Shepherd

🌿 Funded around 203 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

✉️ Emailed Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer to ask the government to stop bulldozing our Marine Protected Areas

🌳 Planted 36 trees via Treeapp

🌲My default search engine Ecosia has stopped showing individual impact... so I won't be able to count this from now on 🙁

🌴 Planted 92 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... February 2024

💉 Took some time out of work to donate blood

✏️ Signed a Greenpeace petition calling on the PM to stop sewage pollution

🌿Funded around 227 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Citizen Zoo via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 1,539 emails

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

🌳 Added 8 new trees to my Ecologi forest

✒️ Added my name to The Dirty Protest against sh*t in our ocean

💰 Made a small donation (£20) to local charity Warming Up The Homeless, which could help them buy 20x breakfast packs

✈ Because I booked a flight for an upcoming conference in Lisbon (I looked into getting there by train but just couldn't make it work - both in terms of time and budget), which will produce 0.47 tonnes of CO2 according to the Sustainable Travel carbon calculator, I funded 1 tonne of blue carbon removal via my Ecologi profile

🌼 I also funded 2m square of habitat restoration in the UK via my Ecologi profile

🌴 Planted 69 trees via my Refoorest extension

✏ Signed an open letter from Cornwall Wildlife Trust calling for government action to protect British wildlife

🌳 Planted 33 trees via Treeapp

Impact in... January 2024

🐙 Switched to a renewable energy supplier (Octopus)

🌿Funded around 183 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 902 emails

🌳 Added 8 new trees to my Ecologi forest

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Citizen Zoo via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🌴 Planted 35 trees via Treeapp

💻 Hit 26,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's a total of around 523 trees planted to date

🧠 Shared my expertise with early career professionals / career switchers looking to get into the conservation sector (I've done this before but probably a good one to mention)

💬 And of course sharing important conservation stories with the public through my articles

🌴 Planted 47 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... December 2023

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,692 emails

🌿Funded around 243 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

✏️ Signed a Greenpeace petition in support of the Global Plastics Treaty

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Citizen Zoo via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🌳 Added 8 new trees to my Ecologi forest

💻 Hit 25,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's a total of around 500 trees planted to date

🌴 Planted 31 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 48 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... November 2023

💰 Made a small donation (£30) to BDMLR

🌿 Funded around 139 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Citizen Zoo via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✏️ Signed a 38 Degrees petition asking Therese Coffey to ditch plans to make our water worse

✒️ As well as signing a petition telling water companies: no price hikes while you pay out bonuses & dividends

✏ Supported an Only One petition asking U.S. Leaders to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act

📝 And another petition calling for France to effectively protect its maritime spaces

✒️ Also added my name to a petition urging the U.S. Government to protect the Pacific Remote Islands

✏ You guessed it... added my name to another petition to stop the shark fin trade in Europe

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 1,731 emails

💻 Hit 24,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's a total of around 484 trees planted to date

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

🌳 Added 8 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🌴 Planted 34 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 59 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... October 2023

🎙️ Waived my fee for a podcast interview and asked it to be donated to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project instead

🚮 Took part in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt

👛 Took part in The Shark Trust's Great Eggcase Hunt by recording mermaids purses found on my beach walks: 1 found this month

🌿 Funded around 133 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist (don't forget, you can help too! Just have a go online)

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 1,756 emails

💰 Made a small donation (£25) to the Brain & Spine Foundation

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Citizen Zoo via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

💻 Hit 23,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 467 trees planted to date (23 since last update)

✏️ Signed an Only One petition calling on Ireland’s government to protect its seas

✒️ As well as signing a petition asking world leaders to support the Loss and Damage fund

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

✏️ Signed a petition supporting the Chumash Sanctuary

🌴 Planted 31 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 101 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... September 2023

🌿Funded around 293 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to the Morocco Emergency via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,716 emails

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🦮 Emailed my MP asking them to meet Guide Dogs this party conference season to discuss how they can help open the world for people with sight loss - they responded saying no.

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

🌴 Planted 33 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 30 trees via my Refoorest extension

💰 Made a $130 donation to MMF

Impact in... August 2023

🌿 Funded around 100 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 1,084 emails

💻 Hit 22,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 444 trees planted to date (24 since last update)

✏️ Signed an Only One petition to protect Antarctica

🌳 Added 45 new trees to my Ecologi forest and offset 3 tonnes of CO2 (to cover the emissions of my upcoming holiday)

🛰️ Spent an hour helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist.

🌴 Planted 32 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 79 trees via my Refoorest extension

🎁 Provided an hour of pro bono support to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

Impact in... July 2023

💻 Hit 21,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 420 trees planted to date (12 since last update)

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✒ Signed a petition to ban hedgehog poison (thanks to Jess Sutton for sharing)

✏ Added my name to a petition to stop deep sea mining

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist.

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards my tree planting (see below)

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,069 emails

🌴 Planted 78 trees via my Refoorest extension

🌿 Funded around 167 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🎁 Provided an hour of pro bono support to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

🌴 Planted 31 trees via Treeapp

Impact in... June 2023

🦭 Refreshed my training as a BDMLR marine mammal medic by attending the charity's mass stranding simulation exercise

🐬 Helped the Sussex Dolphin Project with their data collection by reporting our dolphin sighting to their website

🪼 Reported our jellyfish sightings to Marine Conservation Society to help their data collection

🌿 Funded around 123 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🎁 Provided 1.5 day of pro bono support to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

🌴 Planted 51 trees via my Refoorest extension

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 1,877 emails

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards my tree planting (see below)

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

💻 Hit 20,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 408 trees planted to date (26 since last update)

🛰️ Spent two hours helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist. Next month I hope to find the time to get back to the Great Reef Census too.

🌴 Planted 29 trees via Treeapp

Impact in... May 2023

🌿Funded around 137 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🎁 Provided 0.5 days of pro bono support for a private project in the arts & health sector, the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

🪸 Helped out as a citizen science with the Great Reef Census for half an hour

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✒ Signed a 38 Degrees petition challenging the CEOs of South West Water and Southern Water to swim in the mess they've made

✏ Added my name to a 38 Degrees petition calling to remove plastic packaging from supermarket fruit and veg

✏️ Signed a petition asking the British Museum not to renew its sponsorship deal with BP

✒ Called for the Environment Bill to protect Bees and Pollinators in a 38 Degrees petition

✒ Wrote to my MP asking them to take action on dolphin bycatch

✏️ Signed an SAS petition demanding an end to the water companies profiting from polluting our waters

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,910 emails

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🌴 Planted 29 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 19 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... April 2023

🌿 Funded around 303 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🏦 Chose to set up a new business bank account with Starling (which is not funding the fossil fuel industry according to Bank.Green) rather than an account with Mettle (part of NatWest which is #4 in the UK for fossil fuel financing) which would have saved me money in bookkeeping fees

🎙️ Waived my fee for a podcast interview and asked it to be donated to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project instead

🛰️ Provided 0.5 days of pro bono support for a private project in the arts & health sector, the Madagascar Whale Shark Project and helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✏ Signed a Change.org petition calling for stronger penalties to deter wildlife crime

✒ Added my name to a 38 degrees petition calling for bonuses to water company CEOs to stop until they stop dumping sewage

✏️ Signed Dove's petition to pass the Kids Online Safety Act to better protect kids online

💻 Hit 18,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 382 trees planted to date (17 this month)

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🌴 Planted 24 trees via Treeapp

🌴 Planted 18 trees via my Refoorest extension

Total impact from April '22 to March '23

• Proudly supporting Project Seagrass ✔️
• Seagrass seeds funded through Project Seagrass donations: ~1,962
• Additional donations to other charities: £145
• Days of pro bono support, volunteering and citizen science: 12.5
• Trees planted via Treeapp: 365
• Ecologi Climate Committee member ✔️
• Trees added to my Ecologi forest this year: 429
• Trees planted via my refoorest extension: 182
• Amount donated to Eden Reforestation Projects / The Oceancy via WeWard: £32.50 (6,500 Wards)
• Donated blood: Twice
• Petitions signed: 35
• Emails (and tweets!) to my MP: 6
• Mermaids purses uploaded to the Great Eggcase Hunt database: 24
• Default search engine = Ecosia ✔️
  • Over 18,000 searches to date = roughly 365 trees planted in total
  • Over 8,000 of those searches / 178 trees tracked by the start of this year (April '22)

For the full overview of what I did to give back from April '22 to March '23 please see this blog post.

Impact in... March 2023

🦭 Responded to my first BDMLR call out. Sadly the seal was already deceased but I've submitted photos to see if they can ID the individual

👛 Took part in The Shark Trust's Great Eggcase Hunt by recording mermaids purses found on my beach walks: 1 found this month

💰 Wrote an article for the Guardian which resulted in around £10,000 in donations for the Sussex Seabed Restoration Project from generous readers!

🌿 Funded around 286 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✏ Signed a petition to stop shark being sold under misleading names in the UK

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

✒ Added my name to a Greenpeace petition asking to protect our seabirds by banning industrial sandeel fishing in England

💻 Hit 18,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 365 trees planted

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,193 emails

🎁 Provided an hour of pro bono support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

✈ I booked a flight for my upcoming dive holiday to Egypt, which will produce 1 tonne of CO2 according to the Sustainable Travel carbon calculator. I didn't want to skip my holiday altogether so offset the trip via my Ecologi profile.

🌳 Added 45 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🌴Planted 31 trees via Treeapp

🌴Planted 94 trees via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... Feb 2023

🐟 Took part in Fish Free February

👛 Joined The Shark Trust's Great Eggcase Hunt and started looking for mermaids purses on my teabreak walks: 23 found this month

🌿 Funded around 153 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

💰 Made a small donation (£10) to the DEC Turkey Syria Earthquake Appeal

💰 Made a £50 donation to the Sussex Seabed Restoration Project

👟 Donated 1,000 ‘Wards’ (aka £5) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

📝 Became officially certified as Carbon Literate following Jen Gale's training

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

✏ Signed an Only One petition supporting a High Seas treaty

✒ Added my name to a petition to stop overfishing in Canada

✏️ Signed an Only One petition saying no to deep-sea mining

💻 Hit 17,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 341 trees planted

✉️ Kept my digital carbon footprint down by permanently deleting 2,005 emails

🎁 Provided a couple of hours' pro bono support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards my tree planting (see below)

🌳 Added 40 new trees to my Ecologi forest

🌴 31 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

🌴 28 trees planted via Treeapp

Impact in... Jan 2023

💉 Took some time out of work to donate blood

🗑️ Joined the Sea Change Digital Declutter and reduced my carbon footprint a little by deleting 1,200+ emails (and unsubscribed from lots of mailing lists too - but I forgot to count those, whoops!)

🌿 Funded around 23 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good (unfortunately, it should have been more this month but I'm still awaiting some late payments)

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

📝 Launched my Tiny Tips LinkedIn series: each Tuesday, I'm aiming to share a small action you can take to reduce your climate impact (yes, they're small. The point is that I want them to feel achievable!)

⚠ Signed Make My Money Matter's open letter asking the CEOs of the UK’s Big 5 high street banks to stop financing fossil fuel expansion.

🥕 Joined Oddbox to help save food waste by buying 'rescued' veggies that might have been too big, too odd or too many to be sold through other routes (OK, technically it's not a work action but a girl's gotta eat!)

🎁 Provided a day's pro bono support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

✍ Wrote to my MP asking to make e-scooters safe for people with sight loss

✒ Called on my MP to pipe up for our rivers and seas by demanding the government adopt an action plan that’s fit for purpose to end sewage pollution.

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

✏ Signed a petition calling on leaders to fund research on the impact of plastic in our blood

💻 Hit 16,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that's 320 trees planted

🌴 22 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards my tree planting (see below)

🌳 Added 20 new trees to my Ecologi forest - hitting 1,000+ in total now!

🌳 Shared my Ecologi referral link and three lovely freelancers signed up as a result - adding 90 new trees to my forest (and 30 for each of them)

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

Impact in... Dec 2022

🌿 Funded around 173 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🧠 Boosted my environmental knowledge by taking Jen Gale's carbon literacy training (awaiting certification!)

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

💻 Hit 15,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that means my searches have resulted in 309 trees planted, according to the tree counter on the site

✏ Signed a petition demanding an immediate freeze on all new fossil fuel projects and a rapid & just transition to 100% renewable energy for all

✒ Added my name to a petition to ban non-recyclable single use coffee cups

💰 Made a small donation (£10) to RNLI to help its volunteer lifeboat crews face the cold, rough seas this Christmas

💰 Donated a small amount (£10) to help the trussel trust provide emergency food and support to people who are struggling to get by this winter

💰 Gave a small amount (£10) to FareShare Sussex to support their volunteer-led service and help reduce hunger and food waste in my local area

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

🌴 13 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... Nov 2022

🌿 Funded around 83 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🧠 Boosted my environmental knowledge by completing the UNDP's course on ecosystem restoration

💻 Hit 14,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that means my searches have resulted in 296 trees planted

💻 Correction corner! I had previously been estimating my trees planted via Ecosia based on a rate of ~45 searches per tree (this figure was from their website). Ecosia now calculates the number of trees planted for you (yey - less maths for me!) but FYI this accounts for the drop in trees planted from Oct to Nov despite more seaches

🛰️ Spent an hour helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to The Oceancy via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🚆 Chose to travel by train rather than car to a work meeting

✏ Signed WWT's Wetlands Can petition calling for the creation of 100,000 hectares of healthy wetlands in the UK

✒ Added my name to WCA's Dolphins Aren't Discard petition to stop dolphins being killed by trawlers

✍ Signed a Greenpeace petition asking Rishi Sunak to show real climate leadership at COP27

✒ Supported a petition to prevent new North Sea oil and gas exploration

✏ Signed a BDMLR petition to help ensure protection for the marine mammals being displaced by climate change

✍ Called for anti-protest measures to be removed from the Public Order Bill

✒ Added my name to a petition asking to negotiate sustainable catch limits for UK cod stocks

✏ Asked the government to save the bees by introducing an ambitious target for pesticide reduction

✍ Signed a petition calling for an immediate general election so that the people can decide who should lead us through the unprecedented crises threatening the UK

🌳 20 new trees added to my Ecologi forest

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

🌴 5 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... Oct 2022

🌿 Funded around 183 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🐥 Tweeted my MP asking them to stop the government's #AttackOnNature and prevent plans to rip up nature rules in support of The Wildlife Trusts' call to #DefendNature

✏ Signed a Greenpeace petition asking Liz Truss to stop the Rosebank oil field

✒ Added my name to a petition asking to remove Coca Cola as sponsors of COP27

💻 Hit 13,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that’s around 288 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

🌳 I had to make a car journey for work (boo!) so purchased 20 extra trees in my Ecologi forest for the 0.011t of CO₂ from this 42km round trip (including the repeat journey when I need to return the items)

✍ Signed a petition against building the world's first commercial octopus farm

♻ Gave my sustainability knowledge a refresh by completing BEC's Sustainability & Circular Economy course

🛰️ Spent a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

✏ Signed a Marine Conservation Society calling for the government to stop ocean poison and protect our blue planet from chemical pollution

🥕 Rescued a Too Good to Go Magic Bag to reduce food waste while bagging myself a delicious lunch (I actually rescued too but the second was FULL of biscuits so not lunch as such... obviously we still polished them off though!)

🌰 Outside the office, I made a lifestyle change and created some laundry liquid out of conkers - thanks to Emma Hewlett for the recipe

🎁 Provided half a day's pro bono PR support for Walk for Earth and Madagascar Whale Shark Project

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✒ Showed my support for WWF's campaign to make sure the government delivers on its environmental promises

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌳 20 new trees added to my Ecologi forest

✏ Signed WDC's letter asking TUI to commit to an ethical phase-out of whale and dolphin captivity

🌴 31 tree🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮s planted via Treeapp

🌴 2 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... Sept 2022

🦮 Spent an hour taking part in Guide Dogs' online sighted guide training to learn how to guide a person with sight loss

🌿 Funded around 93 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🚮 Joined (some of) a beach cleanup (I was running a bit late - oops) for Marine Conservation Society's Great British Clean

💬 Improved my knowledge by completing the UNDP's course on communicating the value of biodiversity

🎁 Provided one day of pro bono support to The Madagascar Whale Shark Project Foundation

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

💻 Hit 12,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that’s around 267 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌳 20 new trees added to my Ecologi forest

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

🌴 5 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... Aug 2022

🌿 Funded around 123 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

✏ Signed a Greenpeace petition asking to protect and restore nature in England

🎁 Provided half a day of pro bono support to The Madagascar Whale Shark Project Foundation and another private project

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌳 20 new trees added to my Ecologi forest

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✒ Signed a Surfers Against Sewage petition to #EndSewagePollution in our rivers

✏ Signed a petition to negotiate sustainable catch limits for all 5 UK cod stocks with the EU in 2022.

😴 Took some time out to rest so I'm rejuvenated and ready to continue having a positive impact in September

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

🌴 1 tree planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... July 2022

🌿 Funded around 120 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🎁 Provided three days of pro bono support to The Madagascar Whale Shark Project Foundation and a couple of private projects

✒ Signed a petition to end access refusals for guide dog owners

✍ Wrote to my MP about the issues being faced by guide dog owners now the UK is no longer part of the Pet Passports scheme

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌳 50 new trees added to my Ecologi forest

💰 Donated £25 to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue to help them continue their amazing work

💻 Hit 11,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that’s around 244 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

🌴 1 tree planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in... June 2022

🌿 Funded around 117 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

✒ Signed a World Ocean Day letter asking to protect at least 30% of our blue planet by 2030

🎁 Provided two days of pro bono support to MARINElife (for a PR consultancy Power Hour, including prep and follow up) and The Madagascar Whale Shark Project Foundation (for some out of scope work)

💰 Made a small donation (£10) to Bowelbabe in memory of the amazing Dame Deborah James

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

💻 Hit 10,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that’s around 222 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌳 84 new trees added to my Ecologi forest (& I am now an Ecologi Climate Positive business)

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

✒ Signed a petition speaking up for human rights

🌴 19 trees planted via my Refoorest extension

Impact in… May 2022

🌿 Funded around 607 seagrass seeds by donating to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

📱 When I accidentally smashed my phone (boo!!), I bought a refurbished replacement rather than buying new and sent my broken phone off to Envirofone for the parts to be recycled

👟 Donated 500 ‘Wards’ (aka £2.50) generated by my steps to Eden Reforestation Projects via WeWard (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

⚓ After an amazing tour around the RNLI College, I made a small donation (£20) to help support the charity's incredible life-saving work

🎁 Provided one day of pro bono support to The Madagascar Whale Shark Project Foundation for some out of scope work needed this month

✒ Signed a petition to allow mortgage providers to use rent payment history as proof that mortgage payments are affordable

✏ Signed a Wildlife Trust petition asking for access to nature in every neighbourhood

✍ Added my name to a Wildlife Trust petition demanding more for nature

💻 Hit 9,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia – that’s around 200 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

✈ Because I booked a flight for my upcoming summer holiday (back to Africa to visit some of my MMF amigos), I offset 4 tonnes of CO2 via my Ecologi profile (the return flight will produce 3.38 tonnes of CO2 according to the World Land Trust carbon calculator). I know people have different feelings around taking flights but this felt like a way of minimising my impact while doing something that will bring me joy ☀

🌴 Downloaded the Refoorest extension to plant trees while I browse: 17 trees planted so far

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting with my fee going towards tree planting

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

Impact in… April 2022

🌴 29 trees planted via Treeapp

🌿 Announced my new policy to donate 1% of every cleared payment to Project Seagrass via Work for Good

🎁 Announced my World Ocean Day offer for marine conservation NGOs looking for some pro bono copywriting support in May

👀 Made sure my website is accessible by checking (and updating!) the contrast of the text against the background

💉 Took some time out of work to donate blood

✏️ Signed a petition asking supermarkets to tackle food waste in their supply chains

🦮 Emailed my MP asking them to attend Guide Dogs' event on ensuring visually impaired children get the support they need

✒ Signed a petition against the Government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

✉️ Emailed my MP asking them to support the Better Business Act (BBA)

✏️ Signed a Marine Conservation Society petition calling for proper protections for our seas, now

✔️ Discovered and downloaded We Ward to turn my everyday steps into donations (referral code: MELL-J7s3F)

👟 Donated 500 'Wards' (aka £2.50) to Eden Rainforestation Projects via We Ward

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting. As usual, my fee will go towards tree planting

Total impact from April '21 to March '22

For the full overview of what I did to give back from April '21 to March '22 please see this blog post.

• Days of pro bono support, volunteering and citizen science: 7.5
• Humpback whales adopted: 3
• Manta rays adopted: 3
• Whale sharks adopted: 3
• Basking sharks adopted: 3
• Guide dogs adopted: 1
• Donated blood: Twice
• Trees planted via Treeapp: 299
• Trees in my Ecologi forest: 748
• Ad hoc charitable donations (excluding animal adoptions): £217
• Ecologi Climate Committee member ✔️
• Member of the ethical move movement for transparent and ethical comms ✔️
• Member of the Clean Creatives movement against working with fossil fuel companies ✔️
• Default search engine = Ecosia ✔️ (over 8,000 searches to date = roughly 178 trees planted)
• Sustainable web hosting service ✔️
• Fossil fuel-free pension fund ✔️

Impact in... March 2022

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

🌿 Spent an hour helping Ocean Conservation Trust with their seagrass bagging project - together with the many other volunteers, I played a small part in packing the 10,400 bags which are now all settled on the seabed in Plymouth Sound

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting and, as always, waiving my fee to be used for tree planting

🚗 Drove to a client meeting (no public transport options - although, retrospectively, I should have thought about car sharing!) so I planted 25 trees to offset the journey

🎁 Provided one day's pro bono PR in the form of consultancy for Walk for Earth and a bit of extra project support for the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

Impact in... February 2022

🎁 Offered one day's pro bono PR consultancy to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting and waiving my fee to be used for tree planting... there are now 723 trees in my Ecologi forest (that's including the few I bought the lovely Sam Andrews seeing as our coffees are always virtual!)

🥕 Donated a few items to the local foodbank via the wonderful peeps at Yoginah

⚓ Made a £20 donation to the RNLI to help support their lifesaving work

💰 Donated £20 to the Red Cross to go towards their work supporting people in Ukraine

💻 Hit 7,000 searches with my default search engine Ecosia (since I started tracking/saving number of searches on my device) - that's around 156 trees planted (based on ~45 searches per tree)

🌴 28 trees planted via Treeapp

🛰️ Spent a cheeky half hour helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist... now waiting for new data to analyse!

✒️ Signed a petition calling to protect the Loch Lomond wallabies and natural areas from the planned building of holiday lets

Impact in... January 2022

♾️ Joined the circular economy by signing up to Olio: several items I don't need any more have now found a new home and I've picked up some nearly-new stationary too!

🛰️ Spent half a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

🎁 Spent half a day offering pro bono PR guidance to the Motion for the Ocean movement (in the form of a PR Power Hour, including planning time and follow up)

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

❤️‍ After dad's heart procedure was successful (thank goodness!), donated £20 to British Heart Foundation to support their lifesaving work

💰 Made a £22 donation to BDMLR after they kindly let me virtually attend a porpoise dissection (words I never thought I'd say!)

💰 In celebration of having my booster, donated £22 to UNICEF to help other people around the world access the vaccine

🎁 Announced my formalised pro bono process and lead times to help me streamline requests

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting and waiving my fee to be used for tree planting

✍️ Wrote to my MP asking them to support the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill

🗑️ And reduced my carbon footprint by having a HUGE email clearout and deleting thousands of old emails I no longer need

Impact in... December 2021

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

💰 Adopted a basking shark in the form of a donation to The Shark Trust on behalf of Barley Communications

💰 Adopted a humpback whale on behalf of the Brecon Beacons National Park (via a donation to WWF)

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting. As usual, I'll be waiving my fee to be used for tree planting

🦭 Helped raise vital funds for BDMLR's marine life rescues around the UK by donating to their Christmas raffle

✍️ Signed an open letter asking to make things equal for children with sight loss.

✒️ Called on the Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Justice to stop the Government’s dangerous new Policing Bill.

🛢️ Asked the government to commit to no new oil or gas in the North Sea and support oil and gas workers and communities in the transition towards renewable energy.

🥦 Rescued a Too Good to Go Magic Bag. Delicious snacks for me with the added bonus of helping reduce food waste!

🛰️ Spent a day helping WWF identify walrus from space as a citizen scientist

💉 Took time out of my working day to give blood

Impact in... November 2021

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

🚆 Chose to travel by train instead of plane to Glasgow for COP26. This saved around 191.88kg of carbon compared to flying according to Pawprint (& e-tickets to save paper)

🌍 Joined the Fridays for the Future march for climate justice (Glasgow, November 5th)

❤️‍🔥 And joined the Global Day of Action climate march (Glasgow, November 6th)

🌿 Spent half a day in Plymouth packing seagrass seed bags as a volunteer for the Ocean Conservation Trust. (travelled by train using e-tickets not paper tickets)

🚗 Drove to a client meeting (because public transport was challenging) so I planted 25 trees to offset the journey

🛰️ Spent a day (not all in one go) getting my citizen science on helping WWF identify walrus from space

🦮 Adopted a guide dog puppy (named Pudding which is also my nickname!) to celebrate working with Guide Dogs

👵🏻 Switched my pension to Pensionbee's fossil-free, tobacco-free and arms-free plan (yey) from Penfold's ESG plan as it turned out this was investing funds in Shell (ugh). When I last switched pensions, the fossil free plan wasn't available (that I saw). This was a good reminder to keep reviewing and updating practices and tools!

🎙️ Appeared as a guest on a Facebook Live for the Being Freelance community. We talked about ways freelancers can go greener... Was pleased to hear this inspired people to set up an environmental policy, try meat free Mondays, tree planting, reducing their carbon footprint by deleting emails and more!

🎙️ Similarly, appeared on the Where Ideas Launch podcast to share some of my communications knowledge with sustainable business owners

🌳 Attended the monthly Ecologi Climate Committee meeting and waived my fee to go towards tree planting

✏️ Signed Oceana's petition to ban bottom trawling in MPAs

✏️ Also signed British Red Cross' pledge saying I believe every refugee matters and calling for a more compassionate and effective way to support refugees.

✒️ Finally, added my name to Greenpeace's petition asking Shell to stop hiding behind carbon offsetting

Impact in... October 2021

🌴 31 trees planted via Treeapp

🌳 Now, there are 366 trees planted in my Ecologi forest (from my waived fee for monthly Climate Committee meetings)

✍️ Pledged to join Clean Creatives: a movement to bring together PR professionals to set a new industry standard that agencies should not work with fossil fuel companies or their front groups (obviously, a no-brainer for me when I heard about it!)

✏️ Signed the Sustainable Web Manifesto

✏️ And signed petitions for accessible high streets; asking supermarkets to tackle the millions of tonnes of food waste in their supply chains; calling for stronger protections for seals in England and Wales; and the Earth Day petition asking negotiators to finally meet the Paris Agreement targets

✒️ As well as signing an open letter asking the UK government to turn empty promises into climate action

🌳 Also attended Ecologi's monthly Climate Committee meeting (fee waived for trees to be planted)

Impact in... September 2021

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

💰 Adopted a basking shark in the form of a donation to The Shark Trust on behalf of Nat Geo

💰 Also adopted a whale shark in the form of a donation to MMF on behalf of Popcorn PR

💰 And adopted a manta ray in the form of a donation to The Manta Trust on behalf of Confident Tiger

✏️ Signed a petition to make reducing sewage pollution a legal requirement in the UK

✒️ As well as Signing a petition against the whale & dolphin hunts on Faroe Islands

🚮 Took part in the Marine Conservation Society's Great British Beach Clean

🌳 Attended Ecologi's monthly Climate Committee meeting and an additional breakout meeting (fee waived)

Impact in... August 2021

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

💚 Pledged to join the ethical move. This is a movement in service of a new marketing standard based on transparency, trust, and honesty. Please connect with me if you see me not honouring my pledge

💰 Adopted a manta ray on behalf of Frame PR in the form of a donation to The Manta Trust

🗑️ Signed up to take part in the Marine Conservation Society's Great British Beach Clean in September

✏️ Signed a WDC petition asking TUI to stop supporting whale and dolphin captivity

✉️ Emailed my MP asking them to support nature in the upcoming debate on whether to rethink HS2’s current plans which are devastating whole ecosystems and habitats

💰 Adopted a humpback whale on behalf of the Independent (in the form of a donation to WWF)

💰 Also adopted a whale shark on behalf of Madagascar Film & Photography (in the form of a donation to Madagascar Whale Shark Project)

💰 Made a £30 donation (plus £0.90 to cover processing fees) to the International Rescue Committee to support their work to help the thousands of Afghan people currently in crisis

💰 Also made a £30 donation to Action Aid's Haiti Earthquake Appeal 2021 for the response team aiming to help thousands of people affected by the earthquake

🌳 Attended Ecologi's monthly Climate Committee meeting and waived my fee to plant some trees instead

Impact in... July 2021

🌴 30 trees planted via Treeapp

🌳 Joined the Ecologi Climate Committee. As a committee member, I will be helping to help guide the company's climate impact strategy as it continues to grow its platform for climate action

🌳 25 trees planted in my Ecologi forest

💰 Adopted a basking shark in the form of a donation to The Shark Trust on behalf of Blue Cactus Digital

🚆 Chose to travel by train instead of plane, which saved around 191.88kg CO2 according to Pawprint

💉 Gave blood... OK not technically a work related action (although I was sorting work emails from the donation chair) but exciting that I wasn't rejected because of low iron levels this time. AND my blood will be going to the neonatal unit!

🎁 Offered my time to share feedback with Pawprint and donated the £30 fee to the Madagascar Whale Shark Project

💰 Celebrated getting my second Covid-19 jab by donating £45 to Unicef. This is enough to enable them to transport 1,593 doses of vaccines

🐬 Certified as a British Divers Marine Life Recue marine mammal medic and was trained on how to respond to stranded cetaceans and injured seals

🖼️ Deleted unnecessary images from my website to continue reducing its size. Its carbon footprint is now rated as great (from OK) according to Beacon

🎁 Offered half an hour's pro bono PR support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

Impact in... June 2021

🎁 Pro bono support: half a day

💰 Adopted a whale shark on behalf of North PR in the form of a donation to the fab crew at Marine Megafauna Foundation

🌴 Joined Treeapp and planted 29 trees: offsetting my carbon emissions this month (yey!)

💻 Fixed some back-end website issues which reduced its size from 6.45GB (yikes!) to 1.92MB and moving my website’s carbon footprint from ‘bad’ to ‘OK’ according to Beacon.

🐏 And took part in the Power of the Flock Challenge to meet and collaborate with other eco-minded businesses

Impact in... May 2021

💰Adopted a humpback whale and a manta ray on behalf of two new clients (Nat Geo and Original Travel in the form of donations to WWF and The Manta Trust respectively)

🎁 Half a day's pro bono PR support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

👵🏻 Transferred my pension to a sustainable fund

Impact in... April 2021

💚 Improved the sustainability of my website by switching to a green hosting provider (Green Hosting) which uses renewable energy from North Sea wind farms and has an energy efficient London data centre

🐋 Announced my policy to adopt a marine animal for each new organisation I work with

🎁 Also offered one day's pro bono PR support for Madagascar Whale Shark Project

Please note: My impact tracking began when I went freelance full-time in 2021. I track and tally any activity according to the UK tax year (April to March)