The College Magazine Winter 2019

Spotlight
Interview with
d’Arcy Lunn
For one week in September, DCB was very fortunate to
have sustainability consultant, keynote speaker, and
founder of Teaspoons of Change d’Arcy Lunn work with
staff and students. To let our community know more about how
d’Arcy goes about his mission and how we can all improve our
sustainability efforts, here is an interview with him conducted by
the DCB Media Team.
Q: Could you please briefly explain your organisation
Teaspoons of Change?
A: Sure! Teaspoons of Change (teaspoonsofchange.org) is an
organisation but more of a concept, and it’s trying to put a name
on our small actions that have a positive impact. We do these
things but it’s often hard to recognise them, so Teaspoons of
Change tries to give these small things a name.
Q: Do you think there are different reasons why
individuals should be working up to the SDG
goals? Is it because all of these actions could
add to a real change, or could it also be
because it’s good for us individually?
A: I think all; we need a sense of connection with
the rest of the world. That is a key component for
me to be a global citizen; it is knowing that I am
connected to someone else. The only thing that
differentiates us is where we were born. Essentially,
we are all humans, and trying to be loved, and
laugh…We’re all similar. So I think that Global Goals
are amazing at bringing us together, and they help us focus
our attention as well towards doing good things collectively.
Teaspoons of
Change are small
but significant ideas,
attitudes and actions
that have a positive
impact on people and
the planet.
Q: While we’re on the topic of inspiration and encouragement,
what is the single most encouraging moment that you’ve
experienced since running Teaspoons of Change? Is there
one moment or a day that sticks in your memory?
A: No, not in particular. I interact with so many people and I get
to see wonderful things all the time. I can only ever be optimistic
and positive about the world and the future because I get to
interact with people in such a wonderful way – talking about
solutions, surrounding myself with people who are optimistic
and want to create change together. I love waking up in the
morning now, and Teaspoons of Change has been lovely for me
to follow my passions, put something out there in the world and
interact with people in a way that I love to do. It fills me with
hope, ambition and resilience to do more.
Q: In terms of making a difference, how important is
it to talk to schools? Do you personally think it is
more important to talk to a CEO of a company
or a thousand students?
A: For me it is not an either-or because you do
both, but I think speaking to businesses is more
important at the moment. I believe young people
are far more globally literate and competent,
and working with businesses the past three
months I feel that their change is much slower. I
am a teacher and I love education and interacting
with young people when learning – I’ll never NOT
work in school. It is an important part of me and the
work I enjoy doing, but at the same time I have to be
pushing businesses to do better as well.
Q: There has been a lot of news about climate change
recently, from the Amazon fires to President Trump pulling
out of the Paris Accord and the G7 summit in Biarritz. From
your perspective, how do you try and convince students like
me that their input really does make a difference?
A: Ultimately we are only responsible for our own slice of life.
If I were to worry about what other people are doing, I would
have given up 20 years ago! So I convince myself that my actions
matter, and that I can only control what I can in my own life. If I
keep to that cause, it’s better than doing nothing. With so many
distractions, it hurts. It’s awful. It’s like someone is punching you
when you hear those kinds of announcements, but I can only get
knocked down and get back up again to keep pushing because
my feeling is that if we do nothing, nothing can happen. If we do
something, something might happen. There are no guarantees
but if I am not out there and other people aren’t either, then we
have no chance. I’m basically a climate change counsellor – to
keep that optimism for people, to show that we can keep going
and try our best and see what happens.
Q: If there are three things you could tell a Dulwich student
that they could do every day to make a difference, what
would the three things be?
A: Reducing food waste is number 1 – there is a great resource
called Drawdown (www.drawdown.org/solutions) that has
amazing research showing the top 100 ways to mitigate climate
change, and food waste is number 3. Number 2 is stuff – I won’t
pretend that as a kid, it’s really hard to say no to stuff, because
when your peers have a new phone or a set of shoes that you
aspire towards all the while being surrounded by advertising,
it’s hard to ignore. But if you could create a culture within your
year group or school showing that you honour people who swap
clothes or buy from sustainable and ethical brands, that would
make a huge change. I think students have a huge power in
what they buy and where they go, and in doing so, influencing
your peers. Number 3 is your own journey of trying to work out
what works for you. I don’t like being prescriptive in saying “you
should do this and that”, but just that people should find that
their actions matter. It could be shorter showers, getting involved
in service or sustainability clubs, and anything else.
From the Media Team: Ella R, Y11 (Interviewer); Seung Yon K, Y11 (Photographer); Annika T, Y13 (Editor); Angelina Y, Y13 (Editor)
8 beijing.dulwich.org