Last week I found out that a large area of Abbot’s Woods, an ancient woodland located near the town of Polegate, had been damaged by a wildfire. While the increasing amount of draught and wildfires in the UK and Europe is already a huge cause of distress, this one hit particularly close to home.

Abbot’s Wood holds a special place in my heart. Since I was a small child, it has been a yearly destination during bluebell season. In a way, it has borne witness to my growth from toddler, to angsty teen, to (somewhat) adjusted adult.

Seeing images of charred trees and firefighters tackling the blaze made me deeply sad. It felt as though some of that carefree joy of being a child running around the woods, roleplaying as a cross-dressing Robin Hood, had been lost alongside it. Never has the gravity of the climate crisis and natural habitat loss felt more immediate, more intimate, more terrifying.

On the right: A picture of my dad on our blue-bell excursion in Abbot’s Woods, taken just a few months ago in April. On the right: photo from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. Around 1,968ft by 656ft of gorse and trees got damaged.

During my years at WRAP, my understanding of what being a “responsible business” means beyond surface level has grown alongside the extent of the social responsibility that each one of us carries.

There is an excellent document by the Climate Psychology Alliance that explores the mental blocks many people face when confronted with the climate and nature crisis, particularly in the workplace. One common deflection mechanism stems from the insidious thought: It’s too big. It’s too late. This is often coupled with the assumption that there is very little we can meaningfully do about it.

But as businesses, we have the power to influence culture, attitudes and habits within our own networks and beyond. And, lo and behold, there are actually quite a lot of resources, initiatives and people out there that can help us turn that concern into action.

I wanted to share some of the things we’ve learned, and some of the initiatives that have helped us build momentum on WRAP’s own social and environmental impact journey.

Start small (or very, very small)

“Small changes, big impact” might be a familiar phrase, but small changes are simply the easiest place to start. At WRAP, some of our earliest steps were straightforward, from cutting out single-use plastics to making our Nursery entirely plant-based. Those particular choices won’t necessarily work for every business, but there are plenty of other places to begin.

Switch to a renewable energy provider. Introduce energy-saving LED bulbs and smart plugs. Look at the cleaning products, stationery and other supplies your business regularly buys and find more environmentally friendly alternatives. Starting somewhere small helps create that initial momentum and once you start asking ‘what could we do differently?’ you tend to find more and more answers.

Don’t forget your digital footprint

Our digital footprint is often overlooked when creating an action plan for sustainability. Website Carbon is a nifty free web resource which calculates your website’s CO2 footprint and compares it with other sites on a global scale. What if your website gets a high emission score? Not to worry! Website Carbon offers free guides on how to improve your score alongside a paid service that can help make your website more eco-friendly.

*A screenshot from B Lab Uk. So far, 10k+ companies globally have comitted to B Corp standards.*

Join the Better Business Act Coalition

The Better Business Act Coalition comprises 3300+ businesses backing up the campaign to amend UK law so that every company aligns the interests of shareholders with those of people and planet. The BBAC is the core flagship policy campaign of B Lab UK, the nonprofit movement behind Certified B Corporations, a community of businesses that meet verified high social, environmental, and governance standards.

Both hubs also offer a series of significant resources and case studies that dive deep into the impact changes to business practices would create, and the risks of lower accountability.

And for those sceptic about the economic repercussion this would cause, recent research suggests all companies behaving this way would deliver a £149 bn boost to UK GDP, give the lowest paid UK workers a £2,288 a year pay rise and raise capital investment by £86 bn per year. Another study conducted on UK public showed that not only ¾ want to see better business practices in place, but consumers would also be more likely to buy products and services from businesses with high ethical and environmental standards.

Host A Screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing

In November 2025, the National Emergency Briefing brought together leading experts to present the latest evidence on the climate and nature crisis. A 50 minute film about the briefing is now being shown in community screenings all across the UK. If you have the possibility, consider hosting a screening inviting your team and wider network.

WRAP hosted a screening of the NEB on June 25th. When we organised the event, we quickly ran out of spaces, reflecting the personal investment and sense of urgency felt across the public. If you’d like to host your own screening but don’t have the space, send us an email at hello@wrap.space and we’ll be able to help you organise one. We are also in conversation to organise a second screening at WRAP, likely around October so look out for any communication we might send over!

What does ‘Prosperity’ mean to you?

A few months ago while strolling through St Leonards’ stream of oddities and curiosities shops, a somewhat eccentric character asked me if I had heard of the future ‘Mayor of Sussex’. I brushed this off as a good-natured provocation or attempt to make a somewhat confusing joke. Fast forward to present time…during a SustainabiliTea event held with Bird and Blend I got talking to Victoria Ramsden, a Brighton-based coach on ethical leadership who also happens to have worked with Kevin Anderson, a climate scientist involved in the NEB.

Victoria updated me on the devolution strategy for the new new combined authority (Sussex & Brighton Strategic Authority - SBSA) and pointed out something rather curios: while the strategy draft showed a welcome emphasis on prosperity and equity rather than growth, it was light on reflecting the abundance of progressive businesses in Brighton & Sussex and of our world class nature.

Victoria, alongside a range of representatives from Sussex businesses and organisations was recently part of a roundtable who collaborate on a unified definition for prosperity reflecting nature and resilience. They are now seeking to get as many signatures as possible to illustrate the level of commitment and entrepreneurial and community spirit & talent that is abundant in this region. The open letter is here and you can sign here.

*Tide and Place explored our connection to the sea through a wide range of mediums including painting, sculpture, photography, video and sound.*

Embrace Different Ways of Communicating Creatively

On April 24th we inaugurated our yearly art exhibition ‘Tide and Place’. Curated alongside our charity partners Sussex Bay, it brought together 20+ artists, creative agencies and community projects to explore our collective and individual relationship with the sea. ‘Tide and Place’ was an example of the of the visual arts’ power as a medium of communication able to reach a wide demographic and connect different audiences (including our nursery children!) to our marine ecosystem.

The exhibition is still running and can be visited on weekdays by appointment. If you’d like to pop in for a visit, drop us an email at hello@wrap.space.

A few weeks after ‘Tide and Place’ opepend, exhibiting artist Laura Callaghan and Sussex Bay created a collective piece through audience participation. People were invited to bring a small coastal object and share their connection to the sea. This was a great example of how to faciliate vulnerable or challenging conversations between strangers through art practices.

Be an Advocate for your local charities

1% initiatives are an excellent way to support charities and non-profits directly. Although the official 1% For the Planet website makes it very easy to find a charity to donate to, bear in mind that many local, smaller and newer charities (which tend to be the ones in need of most support) might not be listed as part of their environmental partners.

In June 2025 we started donating 1% of revenue to Sussex Bay, an incredible charity leading incredible efforts to protect and enhance our local precious marine and coastal environments. The income will be shared initially with The Sussex Dolphin Project, to help fund a dedicated research vessel, which will enable much more valuable scientific research of the Sussex Bay marine environment.

Two months later WRAP Nursery started donating 1% to Bright Pip, a local charity offering vital therapeutic support to parents and babies (who, let’s not forget, will be our future decision-makers) during the earliest, and often most emotionally challenging stage of life.

Something that charities always welcome a hand in, is making sure their mission reaches far and wide. So become a local champion for your charity and help spread the word!

Lastly, trust in your Community

If it weren’t for our brilliant WRAP community and wider Brighton network, I wouldn’t have known about many of the initiatives and projects happening around me.

As the saying goes, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. That’s why it’s so important to keep having conversations, meeting new people and staying perpetually curious about what’s happening around you.

When it comes to the climate and nature crisis, it’s incredibly easy to feel nihilistic. The scale of the problem can make our individual actions feel almost insignificant.

But I’ve found that putting my trust in other people, and not being afraid to admit when I don’t know something or to ask for help, has given me back some of the energy that climate anxiety can take away.

It has helped us keep asking, both at WRAP and personally: ‘What else can we do?’. And perhaps more importantly: ‘Who else can we do it with?’

Climate Anxiety to Climate Action: how to avoid overwhelm and find hope within your Community

Emma’s favourite National Trust sites in Sussex!