This month it was great to connect with Maite from @sustainablevet Here she reflects on her inspirations, how she got started to take action and changes she’s made so far at work, as well as in her personal life.
I love hearing what you’ve been up to and sharing your journeys to becoming a bit more sustainable.
“We as veterinarians should be leading the battle against pollution, overconsumption and ultimately climate change“
“My name is Maite and I am a Spanish veterinary surgeon. Two years ago, I decided to move to the UK to pursue my dream of becoming a specialist in Small Animal Surgery. I have always been interested in animal rights, volunteering and activism; but I wasn’t until early this year when the reality about climate change hit me.
Everything started when I bought in my local charity shop a book about how to live without plastic (How to Give Up Plastic: A Guide to Changing the World. McCallum, 2018) – this was just the beginning of my journey. Since then I have read as many books as I can, researched online and watched webinars about plastic consumption and how to minimise it, sustainable living, the impact of humankind on the planet, etc.
I need to mention one of our colleagues’ books which has become my guide in life (The Sustainable(ish) Living Guide: Everything you need to know to make small changes that make a big difference. Gale, 2020).
In January I joined a local Greenpeace group in London where I was living, and I started doing more volunteer activities with them (litter picking, ocean protection campaign) and also by myself (like planting trees with Trees for Cities). I rapidly changed my lifestyle trying to live in the most sustainable way I could and with the aim of being the best version of me every day. I am now vegan most of the time (vegetarian when I need a treat every so often), I cycle or walk to work, I travel by train every time I can, I buy my veggies from a local farm, etc – the list of changes one can make is infinite. Not going to lie, this has not been an easy journey… but I managed to improve a lot in a short period of time.
Once my journey at home was already on, I started looking around me… I spent most of my day at work in a busy referral hospital, I realized the potential changes we could try there in order to make it more environmentally friendly. I started following different vets and vet nurses with similar thoughts and researching for ideas. I was just an intern and it felt a bit scary start proposing changes but my team at London Vet Specialists were rapidly on board, we started with simple changes like the use of reusable crocs instead of shoe covers for theatre, a daily turn around making sure computers where turn off and not only on standby, recycling bins in patient areas to maximize recycling, sustainable sources of recycled paper, emailing invoices and discharge instructions instead of printing them… and slowly moving to more challenging changes. I am no longer there but I am already making a plan for my new working place with some ideas to improve.
At the moment I am working for a charity at the seaside of Kent, moving here made me even more aware (if possible) of the pollution issue… the sea is full of microplastics and even though there is a local community (Rise up Clean up) that organise weekly beach cleans every day I go to the beach I collect minimum 5 to 10 items (cans, bottles, masks, cigarette butts). The problem is still there and we as veterinarians should be leading the battle against pollution, overconsumption and ultimately climate change. We have a duty of care with animals and they are dying because of our living style, this needs to stop, and we are running out of time.
I still have a long journey ahead of learning and understanding this global issue and what we can do as individuals, but also how to connect with communities to see the change we want to make. I started my little project with an Instagram page @sustainablevet to get more involved with the online eco and veterinary community and also share tips and ideas for a sustainable life and work.”
Maite Pardo
Want to share your journey or sustainable tips and feature on the blog? Get in touch at allscrubbedupscrubhats@gmail.com