Meet the people working for sustainability

Video and transcript

In the third episode of our new video series, learn why our employees Catherine Hodgson, Anindita Pandey, Irma Britton, Rebecca Nobes, and Rebecca Marsh are so passionate about conservation and the environment, and how their interests and life experiences have shaped their work.

Transcript and audio description

Shots of a forest canopy, sunlight shining through the ocean, a farm worker carrying vegetables, feet splashing in water, and a person touching a fallen tree are shown during the introduction.

Catherine Hodgson: I've always been passionate about sustainability within my own life. I think everybody feels a strong desire to contribute in some way to building a better world for the future.

Irma Britton: I was all the time focused on environmental science. I loved it from day one.

Rebecca Nobes: I like to grow fruit and veg and to be outside in nature, stuff like that. So preserving that is a priority for me.

A caption with a beach in the background appears, which says: "At Taylor & Francis, we aim to become an ever more sustainable, positive impact business." Another caption, with a busy city street shot from above appears that says: "We focus on the areas where we can make the biggest contributions: Our operations, the content and knowledge we provide, and the communities in which we work."

Catherine: Taylor & Francis is an academic publishing company where our aim is to foster human progress through knowledge. One of our commitments as part of our sustainability strategy is to ensure that we continue to produce products and services that help advance progress towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development goals.

Rebecca Nobes: We started knowing that the biodegradable polywrap we were currently using degraded into microbeads of plastic, and that is what is being found in the oceans. The only way we could truly sustain being no damage to the environment in mailing would be to remove the plastic lamination and to completely naked mail the packaging.

Audio is complemented by office scenes, a close up of plastic pollution in sand on a beach, people reading books in a library, plastic manufacturing, books being shipped in boxes, a person cycling, and close up shots of printed materials.

Catherine: We are responsible for curating and hosting and publishing the latest research and content in different areas that will help us hopefully build a more positive impact society and a more environmentally friendly society as well.

Rebecca Marsh: I commission books that are focused on the professional audience in the business and economics field, but they have a particular flavor for responsible business and sustainability as it relates to business.

Irma: My goal is to publish a book that is focused on global issues and global solutions for environmental problems.

Anindita Pandey: I focus to disseminate it to the largest possible audience so that they can at least understand the mission and the connection to real-world issues, such as predicting the habitat, predicting biodiversity, and making sure species do not disappear.

Catherine: One of the biggest commitments that we have as a business is to become a net zero carbon and zero waste business by 2030.

Audio is completed by shots of a polluted river from overhead, a busy street in south Asia, wildlife in India, and people using libraries.

Rebecca M: What really pleases me is when I know that authors feel their books are having an impact. So you know, you kind of share in that joy really.

Irma: There is no day that I don't learn something that I didn't know yesterday.

Anindita: I've grown up in the northeastern states of India and there are a lot of national parks and reserves where animals are conserved, so I grew up in those areas and understood the idea of conservation and protection.

Rebecca N: To know that you're doing something that is eventually going to make a big change when everybody follows is yeah, it's really great.

Irma: It's a topic that makes you conscious in everyday life, what we do, and how we can help our future generations.

Anindita: It seems like something that an organization like Taylor & Francis can impact real-world change.

It's really rewarding that Taylor & Francis are looking to make a difference in our own practice, as well as sharing that knowledge across the globe.

Catherine: The great thing about working in sustainability is the fact that you get to help drive collective change on something that you know is going to have a measurable impact within the organization and even the communities that you serve through your products and services.

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