Get Inspiration For Your Next Trip

Booking.com

OLIO Goals

on


An overview of goals.

Why did you introduce goals?
  • In response to feedback from our community, and after conducting focus groups and interviews, it became clear that OLIOers are looking for guidance and inspiration on how to lead a more sustainable life, beyond sharing via the app. 
  • We passionately believe that it was billions of small actions that created the climate crisis in the first place, and so we hope that billions of small actions can help reverse it ðŸ’ª
  • A whopping 60% of greenhouse gas emissions are as a result of household consumption, and so it's very clear that what we do DOES matter
  • We recognise that individual action alone can't solve the climate crisis, and that systems change is absolutely critical to solving the climate crisis at scale. However with systems change being glacially slow, we believe individual action can play a vital role in catalysing and accelerating this change. 
How did you come up with the points?
  • We researched the carbon footprint associated with each action and then grouped similar actions into points bands
  • Higher points = bigger impact 

Do you make money from the “We recommend” section?

  • We only choose products/services/companies that we have either used ourselves, or would happily use 
  • For some of the recommendations OLIO does receive a small affiliate fee from the seller when an OLIOer makes a purchase
  • This money contributes towards the costs of developing & maintaining the OLIO app, plus running the company. These affiliate revenues do not cover the full cost base of OLIO. 

Why aren’t the links linking to shops in my country?

  • OLIO has launched goals with shop links for OLIOers in the UK and Mexico only
  • If you live elsewhere, you can still complete goals by searching online to find local items

Will there be more goals?

  • We’re planning to release new goals on each Friday, although this may change in response to feedback from our community
  • You’ll receive notifications for new available goals (if notifications are switched on). In the coming months we plan to build notifications customisation for goals specifically. If you want to customise or switch off all notifications from OLIO, go to the menu ≡, then Notifications, and adjust the “marketing messages option”

Isn’t encouraging buying more things bad for the environment?

  • We would always recommend re-using existing items, buying second-hand or making home-made wherever possible. 
  • However where this isn't possible, we're making it easy for OLIOers to buy planet-friendly alternatives. 

Is leading a planet friendly life going to be more expensive?

  • In our experience leading a planet friendly life has not been more expensive. This is because we found that significant savings could be made in some areas e.g. by reducing meat consumption, by buying foods loose, by making homemade, by generally consuming less; however these cost savings are offset by other items that do tend to be more expensive e.g. in personal care. 
  • Overall we've found that we're either financially better off, or cost neutral. 
  • An additional benefit we've discovered (other than that great glow of knowing you're doing good for planet and people) is that the items we've purchased tend to last longer/go further.
Why do some Goals include actions that refer to meat & dairy consumption?
Here at OLIO our #1 value is to be 'inclusive', and so we want meat eaters, pescatarians, flexitarians, vegetarians and vegans all to feel welcome and encouraged on their journey to live more sustainably. 

Also, philosophically we believe that "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly" (Anne-Marie Bonneau). To that end we encourage people who are consuming meat and dairy products to try and do it more sustainably e.g. through taking their own containers to reduce their plastic footprint, and by buying from local butchers where the welfare conditions are likely to be higher than in the supermarkets. We also have a number of goals that encourage users to reduce their meat consumption, to get vegan meal subscriptions, to use plant based milk etc. Ultimately we recognise that the journey to living more sustainably is a highly personal one, and we want to encourage our community to get involved and start making a difference in whatever way works for them. In our experience, once people are on the journey many then quite naturally start to reduce their meat and dairy consumption, or even eliminate it entirely.