The power of boots on the ground
By Roger Sharp, Bupa APAC Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer.
As a passionate supporter of the Manchester City Football Club, one song that has grated on me for as long as I can remember is – You’ll Never Walk Alone, the unofficial anthem of our rivals Liverpool FC. It’s catchy, it’s haunting, and it’s about standing together and recently, as much as it’s hard for me to admit, it’s occasionally crossed my mind when I’ve set out for a walk.
That’s because I’ve associated it with being part of Bupa’s Healthy Cities program. This month, we launched the program across Australia and New Zealand to get our people active throughout September, and in doing so unlocking $1 million in project funding to help promote biodiversity and restore the environment. It’s our way of highlighting the inextricable link between the health of people and our planet.
As part of Healthy Cities, I personally challenged myself to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per day to help contribute to environmental projects, but importantly for me, to better focus on my own physical and mental wellbeing. And so far, so good, I’m hitting that target and feeling much the better for it.
As part of Healthy Cities, I personally challenged myself to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per day to help contribute to environmental projects, but importantly for me, to better focus on my own physical and mental wellbeing. And so far, so good, I’m hitting that target and feeling much the better for it.
The power of the collective
Over the years I have found that increasingly, the road to Net-Zero is paved with spreadsheets, strategy documents and emails. However, amidst all the numbers, projections, proposals, and meeting invites, we can often lose sight of the greatest asset a business has when it comes to the challenge of restoring and protecting our environment – people, and through them collective action.
I’ve been completely blown away by how enthusiastically more than 5,000 people jumped into the Healthy Cities challenge to help us achieve our goal. They’ve made changes to their personal routines, prioritising physical activity, and getting out and about into nature, while empowering and encouraging each other.
Suddenly we’re seeing Microsoft Teams as walking meetings, lunchtime jogging clubs, and I’ve joined some of my colleagues for Healthy Cities walking events, including Aboriginal cultural walking tours where we delved into the rich history of First Nations people.
So, through Healthy Cities, we are not walking alone.
Collaboration means restoration
As Sustainable September takes place across Australia and New Zealand, some of my colleagues from across the Bupa are attending and presenting at Climate Week NYC where the theme is (not coincidentally) ‘We Can. We Will.’
As my colleague, Group Director of Sustainability, Glyn Richards noted, the responsibility and accountability for action to deliver Net Zero cannot sit in one sector nor in one country; we need cross-industry and cross-border collaboration.
That’s why thinking outside the Bupa box is so important to our sustainability strategy.
Through Healthy Cities we’re partnering with organisations such as Airseed Technologies, Earthwatch Australia, Greening Australia and Project Crimson Trust to undertake regeneration projects.
Through our Bupa Foundation partnership with Conservation Volunteers Australia, we’re giving Australians an opportunity to bring biodiversity into their lives for the benefit of their mental wellbeing and local ecosystems by supporting their Nature Blocks campaign.
Teams of Bupa people across Asia Pacific are also working hand-in-hand with start-ups to develop innovative solutions that improve the health of people and the planet through the 2023 eco-Disruptive program.
Where to from here?
While the passion for sustainability and healthy living habits is alive and well at Bupa, our challenge is to help further spread the message of “a healthy planet for healthy people” throughout the communities where we live and operate.
We know by empowering people to take an active role in their health and wellbeing, we can reduce the risk of them needing treatment, which reduces the use of precious natural resources, carbon emissions and the waste produced by the healthcare sector.
We know by helping connect people with local environmental programs we can also create healthy communities that actively care for the spaces they work, live and play in.
Furthermore, we know we also need to innovate and think differently to meet the urgent challenges that climate change is presenting.
So, let’s continue to encourage each other, ideate together and make time to get active and exercise or volunteer together. Because together is the only way the greatest team of all, humankind, will win.
Right, with that said I can get back to humming Blue Moon, and enjoy looking at City’s lead over Liverpool in the Premier League table!
